


Linked Magic

by notpoetry



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 52,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22813108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notpoetry/pseuds/notpoetry
Summary: Linked Magic is scarcely talked about for a good reason - seldom knew enough about it to make informed decisions. But when Fred is informed he and his brother's best mate and crush are Linked, he has to decide. Does he run the risk of saying no and not having a secret weapon during the upcoming War, or does he break the rules and pray he doesn't fall for her and break Ron's heart?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 38
Kudos: 172





	1. Prologue

A/N: Hello! This story has been planned out over the New Year and I am very excited to be able to finally share it with the world. Hopefully this concept - while definitely thought of before - has enough of its own unique story to capture and captivates interest. It is a Fred/Hermione story beginning just before Harry Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts, meaning Fred and George are still at Hogwarts for now. According to my drafts this will be just over 50 chapters long and its completely planned out. Who knows if it will stay that way, though!

* * *

"But we read this last night!" a young voice cried out in the candlelight.

"Only half!" another voice called over the quiet hushing.

"Ron, you chose to read _The Beetle and the Bard_ five nights ago and we read it until we finished all the stories. Ginny chose _The Link Between Gnomes_ last night and we only got halfway though, so it's only fair that we finish it, isn't it?"

The young boy groaned and threw his bed covers over his head. "The book sucks, Mum! Gnomes don't even love, they just bite you!"

"Nuh-uh!" the little girl in the bed across the room cried loudly. "These gnomes love each other, don't they Mummy!"

"They do, Ginny, they do. Don't let Ronald tease you like that - if he doesn't want to listen, he can go straight to sleep."

"But I'm not tired!" Ron whined. "How come Fred and George get to stay up late and I don't?"

"Fred and George are going straight to bed once you two are asleep, Ronald. They're nine years old anyway, they can stay up a little bit later. Once you're nine, you can stay up late too."

"No fair!"

"Then roll over and go to sleep if you don't want to listen!"

Ron rolled over to face the wall and closed his eyes tightly. What a dumb story anyway. He was right, he knew it. Gnomes don't love each other, they just stole your vegetables and ruin the garden with holes? But now he was stuck wasting his night listening to the dumb story Ginny loved so much, about two gnomes that _had_ to love each other because their gnome magic was Linked. How silly could Ginny be? Didn't she know that only wizards and witches had Linked magic? He'd listened to Charlie when he'd explained it to her after he caught her looking for a wishbone marking on her wrist one night, so she had to know. He'd told her that only witches and wizards that decided to finish combining their Linked magic through a Bonding ceremony had the silly looking bracelet thing stuck on them forever.

He did think that the rest of Charlie's explanation sounded pretty cool, though, and Charlie didn't even need to read it from a book, he just knew it from people talking at Hogwarts! He said they'd told him that people that were Bonded could do special tricks that normal witches and wizards couldn't do, like fly without a broom or know where the other person was without being told - they could just _feel_ it. He nearly turned around to ask his Mum if Fred and George were Bonded because they _always_ knew where the other one was and they could both talk like they knew what the other one would say next, but he stopped himself. His mum was reading the gross part about the gnomes kissing. Honestly, how girly!

He hated sharing a room with Ginny, it was awful. He wished he had his own room so Mum would read whatever story he wanted each night, and then he wouldn't have to have silly pink walls and fluffy toys everywhere. He wouldn't have to hear about how the gnomes spent the rest of their lives fixing gardens instead of ruining them and helping witches and wizards keep their house clean. What a load of rubbish.

He woke as he rolled over into a more comfortable position. He opened his eyes groggily to see who was whispering in his room and saw the outline of his mum stroking Ginny's hair. He closed his eyes again and listened to their conversation as he tried to fall back asleep.

"Is it really real, Mummy?"

"Is what real, dear?"

"All that special magic - Charlie said it was."

"Yes, dear, it is real, but I don't think Gnomes can be Bonded."

"Can witches really fly?"

"Fly? Well, I'm not sure about flying, but I've heard that they can feel the other person's feelings even when they're far away, and they love each other forever and ever."

Ginny let out a huge yawn. "Are you and Daddy Bonded?"

Their Mum let out a quiet giggle. "No, dear, we're not Bonded. We just love each other very, very much."

"When are you going to get Bonded?"

"We cant, my sweet. We never got a special letter to say we can."

"Like the…the…the gnomes did?" Ginny said, stuttering as she yawned again.

"Like the gnomes did, yes." their Mum said. "I think it's time for you to sleep now, dear."

"Mkay" Ginny said, and Ron heard her nestle deeper into her covers. "Will I be Linked?"

"I don't think so, Ginny. Only a few people ever get a Link, and even less people choose to Bond."

"Mmm…kay" Ginny said with a final sigh, and their Mum stood up after placing a gentle kiss on her head. She walked over to Ron's bed, satisfied that he was asleep. She gave him a soft kiss to his temple and pulled his covers around him snugly. "I love you both so much" she whispered, and left the room with barely a sound.

With a sigh, Ron drifted back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1: The Party

A/N: This chapter was written before I remembered the prologue, whoops! That means that technically two chapters/parts are out at once, but that will be a rarity. I expect a chapter out every 2-4 weeks based on my busy schedule. Please let me know what you think of the characterisation of Fred as I want to do him justice and have most of the story drafted from his point of view. Enjoy!

* * *

So it was official, according to his mother. He and George were simply roommates rather than being part of the Weasley family. Mere neighbours. Nothing more than travellers looking for a couch to sleep on and a warm meal. And here they had been for the past seventeen years thinking they were stuck with the classic red hair, freckles, stocky bodies, pale skin, and questionable robes that caused everyone to label them a Weasley. His "Mum" and "Dad" must've been having a laugh behind their back the whole time!

 _"That's everyone in the family!"_ Fred recalled his mother saying as he snorted to himself. George, who was walking next to him to the basement in Grimmauld Place, looked at him with a knowing grin as they made their way down the stairs. They both knew their dear mother regretted saying it as soon as she'd said it, but honestly, who would hold it against them if they caused a bit of mischief at their ickle brother's celebratory party? They could very easily claim that they thought themselves outcasts from the family and simply wanted to be remembered. Not that anyone would believe them, but Fred knew he and George would give the excuse their best shot anyway.

As they entered the basement the banner their mother their mother created caught Fred's eye, and he looked over to George to see his reaction. Sure enough, the glint of an idea was in his eye, and as George looked at him, they nodded mischievously at each other.

"Stop that - whatever it is you're thinking of, stop it!" their mum called from across the room as she hurried over towards them. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny had made their way down the stairs by the time she'd caught up and she informed them all that tonight would be a celebration. Fred rolled his eyes as his mum grabbed Ron's cheeks and told him that their dad and eldest brother would be joining them for the festivities. "And I'm warning you," she called back to Fred and George as she bustled away from the group, "there will be no trouble tonight!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Fred called back.

"Not on a special night like tonight!" George cried.

"The most special night of nights," Fred said to the group behind them as he and George turned to address them.

"Well, second most special." George agreed.

"The most special night will have to wait until after Hogwarts, won't it?"

"'Course!" agreed George. "Can't sign the papers until they're seventeen, can they?"

"What papers?" scoffed Ron.

"The marriage papers!" the twins said playfully. They watched as Ron turned bright red while Hermione blushed lightly. Harry looked simply confused while Ginny smirked next to him.

"What are you on about?" Ron said uncertainly.

"Look at it!" George said as he pointed his wand towards the banner and made the words _NEW PREFECTS_ disappear, leaving the scarlet banner reading _CONGRATUALTIONS RON AND HERMIONE_ shining in gold lettering. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

"They really do," Fred said as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "Seems like only yesterday we were able to call him our brother but now he's going to be a married man. A true grown up, with bills and a home and _priorities._ "

"Leave him alone." Hermione said as she rolled her eyes and pulled her wand from her pocket. She pointed her wand at the banner and said " _revelio",_ causing the missing message to come back. "Really, you two should be encouraging him! There's nothing wrong with being a prefect; in fact, I know Ron will be great at it." Hermione said encouragingly as she pat Ron's arm. He blushed an even brighter red and looked away.

George pretended to gag and Fred slapped his arm. "C'mon now, Forge, it could be worse. Could be Harry trying to tell us off for lighting up dungbombs in the corridors. We'd actually have to listen to him!"

"Oi!" shouted Ron as the twins laughed. "You _will_ have to listen to me, or…or I'll dock points!"

He and George both raised an eyebrow at their youngest brother. "Just like you'd have to dock points from Hermione for performing underage magic outside of Hogwarts?"

"Prefects can't dock points from other prefects." Hermione snapped as it the information was obvious. "It's a well known rule to keep things fair and balanced."

"Does that rule extend to fiancé's, Ron?" George asked with glee to his brother who was opening and closing his mouth like he couldn't choose a retort. Ron promptly turned to Hermione and Harry for help and Hermione grabbed Ron and Harry's arm and stalked and George laughed as they heard her say "honestly, you three!"

"He's not going to stop blushing all night now." Ginny mused to her brothers as she watched the trio grab a Butterbeer from the table.

"Compliments from Hermione after she doesn't stop us from pretending they're engaged?" George asked with a grin.

"Hi face will provide enough heat for Hogwarts for the winter!" Fred joked. He watched as Ginny laughed and walked over to greet Tonks.

Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already there and Mad-Eye Moody joined the basement soon after. Fred and George greeted their father and brother when they arrived but were quickly enthralled by Mundungus' recent procurements as they huddled in a corner and negotiated on price. Thankfully Harry joined them when Mundungus gave them an absolutely ridiculous mark-up on the goods, and soon he and George were heading up the stairs and entering the bedroom they shared to stash their goods.

"What d'you reckon, Gred?" George asked. "Indoor fireworks, spiked Butterbeer, Duplicating Decorations, how are we going to liven up the party?"

Fred looked around their bedroom and took stock of the creations available to them. He nearly suggested adding the prototype of their Constant Coughdrops to the sweets on the table, but the thought of Mad-Eye getting near their products sent a shiver of worry down his spine. They didn't need him and his mother messing around with their inventions. "I dunno, maybe we should just keep taking the mickey out of Ron."

"Classic, yet proven results." George conceded. "Any reason?"

"Mad-Eye doesn't need to see any of this and dob us in to Mum. She'd burn the lot like she did the forms." Fred said as he shuddered at the memory of last year's summer. A repeat performance was certainly not necessary.

George looked slightly peaky but nodded his agreement anyway. "Maybe we could change the banner to 'Congratulations Ron and Hermione: Newlyweds'. That ought to stir him up."

"Brilliant" agreed Fred as they locked the door to their room (to keep the merchandise safe from prying eyes and hands) and sauntered back down to the party. By then the party was in full swing; conversations were happening all around them and someone had found a radio to play music. Fred prayed that the Celestina Warbeck song playing was a single and not her whole album as Ginny walked the radio with a scowl on her face. Their mother seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the music as she held onto their dad and slowly spun on the spot near a corner of the room, while Lupin and Tonks were talking quietly nearby.

George nudged Fred's shoulder and gestured to the banner with a no of his head. Fred grinned his approval of the new banner and twirled his wand towards it too, giving the "o" in Ron's name a diamond on top. George snorted and waved his wand again, turning the "u" in Congratulations into a heart. They quickly moved away from the banner and deposited their wands into their back pockets as Sirius eyed them reproachfully, but he laughed when he'd realised the banner changed. Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at the man as they broke off their conversation but didn't seem to notice the change in décor. With a nod of success to each other, the twins made their way to the drinks table and grabbed a Butterbeer each.

"You're not going to give them an easy year, are you?" Sirius asked as he approached the twins with a glass of what Fred suspected to be Firewhiskey in his hand. Sirius' easy grin made it evident that he was enjoying having so many visitors in his home and livening up the dark, gloomy atmosphere the house usually lended itself.

"'Course not!" George said jubilantly.

"How could we?" Fred joined in.

"We only get one year to fit in enough mayhem to last them three years,"

"Otherwise they won't even miss us!"

Sirius' laugh rang out in the room as the music lulled in between songs and Fred was relieved that Ms. Warbeck's droning was replaced by something recorded that decade by the Weird Sisters. "If we had been in the same year together at Hogwarts I think McGonagall would have retired during our first Christmas! Imagine how good detentions would have been too, I think tha-"

"FRED! GEORGE!" Their mum called as conversations around the room stopped and focused on either the pair of them or their mother. "Get over here and fix this banner _now!_ "

All eyes around the room went to the banner overhead. It now had a border of gold and silver flowers embellished onto it, and Fred noticed Ginny looking distinctively proud of herself as he looked around the room for an escape. "C'mon now, Mum, it's just a bit of fun!" Fred said as she placed her hands on her hips. George sighed next to him as she stared them down and fixed the banner with a few flicks of his wand.

"We are here to _celebrate_ Ron's achievement, and I daresay that you should be taking notes!" Mrs. Weasley said exasperatedly. "You've got one more year to buckle down and choose what you're doing with your life-"

"You're right," Fred interrupted in a rush.

"We really do need to work it out-"

"But for now-"

"We celebrate!" George called as he pointed his wand at the radio. The music turned up and he grabbed Hermione by the hand and spun her around the room much to her surprise. Fred smirked as he watched for a moment then tried to grab Ron's hand, but he was too quick for his older brother and stuck two fingers up at Fred. Fred laughed at his mother's exclamation and seized the bottle of Butterbeer from Harry, placing it on a nearby table before spinning him around the room too. Fred took the lead as they danced in time to the jazzy number coming out of the radio and attempted to dip him. Harry told him to do something that would make his mum send him to bed without supper if she'd heard him, but Fred merely grinned as he placed his hand back on his waist and continued to move around the room.

"While I've got you here, I just wanted to say thanks again," Fred said in a tone as serious as he could get as he spun another bloke around the room. "George and I, we really do appreciate your interest in the business."

Harry shook his head as he tried not to stumble over Fred's feet - clearly he hadn't learnt much from the Yule Ball last year. "As long as you don't spread it that I'm your mystery investor, I'm more than happy to do it. I really don't fancy being at the end of your mum's wand when she finds out."

"We solemnly swear to keep it secret." Fred said as he removed his hand from Harry's waist and raised it to cover his heart. "Pranker's promise."

"Oh, and no testing on me without consent." Harry said in afterthought. "Or Ron or Hermione."

"Can only promise Hermione, sorry mate." Fred replied with an air of sadness. "But we can promise not to try and kill him?"

"That could work." Harry mused as they continued to move around the room. Fred noticed that they were gaining on George and Hermione as they manoeuvred around the room, and with a nod to George they synchronised a final spin with their respective partners, letting go of their hands and catching the other. Harry laughed as George told him he looked dashing and they danced away from Fred and Hermione. Fred noticed she sounded a bit out of breath and let her recover for a moment before moving them around the room slower than she'd been dancing with George.

She kept her head down for a moment, focusing on his lead as they moved slightly out of time with the music. She looked up at him after a moment and the suspicion was clear on her face. "Why did you look so serious with Harry?"

Fred frowned in confusion. " _Why do you tease Ron so much?_ ", " _Why can't you let Ron be happy_?", " _Are you jealous of Ron being a prefect?_ ", or " _Why are you so devilishly handsome?_ " were questions he was expecting from her, not that. Maybe not that last one, actually. She'd never outright ask such a question.

"He did me and George a favour before, I was just saying thanks."

"Just saying thanks." she repeated in disbelief. They continued to move to the music out of time but Hermione seemed happy enough to follow his lead instead of the beat as she questioned him. "Was that favour something to do with the dark corner and Mundungus earlier?"

He gave her a charming smile and spun her under his arm, holding on to her slightly tighter than before as she gracefully fell back in step with him. "The less you know, the better." he said with a wink.

"I wasn't lying earlier," she continued after a pause in their conversation. She was an easy partner to dance with, and he recalled waltzing with her at the Yule Ball after George had joined her for a tango. He stopped his dancing for a few beats then began to waltz with a comically straight back and fixed arms. Hermione looked at him with a puzzled expression but indulged him anyway. "Ron really will be a great prefect. He always looks out for those who need help."

"Right you are, love, right you are." Fred conceded as they continued to waltz. "Doesn't mean he'll be given special treatment from us."

"Honestly? I think it would be worse for him if you gave him special treatment. Just…just don't push him too far, okay? Let him do what he has to do."

"You're telling me we don't have to give up our dreams? We can still prank and jest and be the fun Weasley's?" Fred said with an infectious grin that Hermione seemed to begrudgingly find contagious.

"You know what I mean, Fred. Don't hurt anyone, listen to your brother, and I'll stay out of your hair."

"But we've got so many things planned to make this year fun!" he mock-whined as they danced past Ginny and Sirius and Lupin and Mrs. Weasley.

"Then I'm glad it's our last year together." Hermione said with dry amusement.

Fred broke their pattern of dancing and dipped her, holding her tight in his arms to make sure he didn't drop her as she gasped lightly in surprise. "No need to say things we don't mean, Miss Granger. You know you're going to miss us eventually."

He watched as she blushed under his stare and let her up a moment later. No need to tease her too long, he reasoned mentally. She'd given him permission to do what he does best under her prefect-ness, and that was a blessing he was not expecting that night. As they straightened he noticed she was still blushing and cleared her throat lightly as she looked around. He felt a light warmth in his chest, and he decided that making Hermione Granger blush throughout the night should be his and George's second goal under teasing dear Ronald.

"Oi!" a voice called out from across the room. He looked around and saw that George was mid-dance with Tonks while Mr. Weasley had joined his daughter for a dance. Harry and Lupin were chatting across the room, and Ron was storming up to him and Hermione. Fantastic.

"What are you two doing?"

"Dancing?" Fred said with a blank expression. "Whatever else would we be doing?"

Ron started to turn a light pink - a much better look on Granger than his own brother he noted - and began to splutter indignantly. "Yeah, but, you two - George and Harry finished dancing ages ago!"

"I wouldn't expect two blokes to dance with each other for too long, well, not those two blokes in particular. I know for a fact that George only has eyes for birds." Fred said to his little brother with a wink.

"That's not what I meant!" Ron half-shouted but thankfully the music meant only the three of them heard him. "You're up to something!"

"Nothing's happening, Ron, we're just dancing." Hermione said lightly.

"Yeah," agreed Fred. "But if you'd like to dance with your betroved I won't hesitate to give her back, unless the fair lady doesn't wish to leave?" he asked as he looked down to Hermione who was still in his arms. Ron seemed to notice at the same time, as he stalked towards the stairs, calling out "whatever! I'm going!" behind him.

"Ron!" Hermione called out with exasperation. She looked up at Fred with annoyance but it didn't seem to be directed at him. "If you'll excuse me, but I better go and talk to him." she said as she began to let go of him. Without thinking or letting go of Hermione, Fred shot his hand out not at Ron, but to the staircase out of the basement he was just about to reach. Much to his surprise the staircase made a piercingly loud noise and split vertically seven times until the stairs looked like strips of an accordion's bellows.

Someone had stopped the music as everyone with a wand on them held it and stood in a defence position at the noise, looking around wildly for the intruder that had broken the stairs. They finally looked at Fred who still had one arm around Hermione from their waltz and the other hand open palmed towards the split staircase, who himself looked shocked at what he'd apparently done. Not that he knew how.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ron yelled at Fred incredulously. "You could've killed me!"

"Hermione wanted to talk to you." Fred said meekly. It wasn't a tone he had often, but he had absolutely no idea how he'd done that to the staircases. His wand was still in his back pocket for Merlin's sake!

Hermione looked up at him with wide eyes, then turned to Ron. "Um, yes…well, Fred, can you let go of me, please?"

He let go on her instantly and dropped both his hands to his sides. As soon as his palm stopped facing the stairs they crashed back into each other with an ear-splitting bang, forcing everyone to throw their hands up to their ears as the noise echoed around the room. Once the noise stopped Hermione walked over to Ron as people started looking to the person next to them for answers as to what had just happened. Ron looked back to Fred and jogged up the staircase quickly, as if he expected it to break apart again. Hermione climbed the staircase slowly, holding a bannister as she walked with unsteady legs. She turned and looked back to Fred when she was halfway up the stairs, and as she looked at him he realised with a jolt that he'd been watching her the entire time. With a shake of his head he brought his attention back to the room, and George was already standing beside him.

"Wanna tell me what the hell just happened?" George asked quietly.

Fred looked at him and then back to the empty staircase, Hermione already at the top after catching up to Ron. "I have no idea".


	3. Chapter 2: The Meeting

* * *

Fred joined George and Lee's enthusiastic walk down the well-beaten path towards Hogsmeade as soon as they had gotten past Filch. The poor bloke seemed to suspect that they were only off to Hogsmeade to get up to no good…a crazy thought if there was one. As the three of them walked they bounced ideas for a present for Filch off each other in a frenzy in case he missed them after a few hours away. Whenever they entered the same hallway as the Squib he'd always run up to them and demand to know what they were up to, and he and George always delighted in teasing him about his crush on the most handsome of the Weasley's. While he'd always scowl and walk off after deciding that he would not be catching them the act on that particular occasion, George would swear that he saw a look of longing in his beady eyes.

The walk up to the village chilled them to the bone thanks to the howling wind. Lee's dreadlocks knocked against his face gently, but the twins were stuck with their hair smacking them across the face everytime they turned half an inch to face the other. He almost asked George if he'd consider getting a haircut with him, but doubted that his twin would join him - he'd confided in Fred that Alicia seemed to enjoy running her hands through his hair in the gardens as they snogged at the Yule Ball, and he'd only ever had a trim since. Maybe he'd have to start braiding his hair like Bill's, surely Ginny would help him learn, wouldn't she? He wrapped his Gryffindor scarf tightly around his neck and laughed at Lee's crude joke involving Filch and a couple of purple toads. At least the weather couldn't stop the day from being interesting.

Their first destination was Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop - naturally. They had to scope out their competition, and what better way to do so than to blow their allowance plus some of the profits from their mail-order services? As soon as they reached the main street of Hogsmeade the three boys charged ahead of the students mingling in the street and swiftly entered the shop. Fred closed his eyes and inhaled the scent that had barely changed since their last visit; the faint smell of smoke barely distinguishable over the louder and more captivating scents of asphodel (for the potions with more bite than others), belladonna (a potent ingredient needed for Zonko's memory altering charmed items), and octopus powder (a truly disgusting smell, but necessary for longevity and strength of concoctions). He and George had become increasingly familiar with the range of smells underlying the main three as they experimented with their own ideas, but it was those three scents that he knew the best from his time spent browsing the aisles in his favourite shop with boyish glee. He'd even admitted to George and Lee after that fateful Potion's lesson last year that he'd smelled Zonko's in Snape's Amortentia brew as they studied it. He grinned at the shelf he was looking at absently as he recounted the memory of him snapping at George and Lee about it, then asking what _they_ had smelled in the potion if his was so stupid. _That_ had shut them up completely.

Fred began to fill his arms with the newest merchandise from the lively shop. There were plenty of students in there exploring each of the aisles, but they had learnt to steer very clear of him and his twin when they were in shopping mode. He was able to move around the students with the grace of a hummingbird in spring, moving from shelf to shelf and picking up everything that caught his fancy. Some products in his hand were old favourites, others were similar to those they were trying to create for themselves. Most products, though, were in his hands because they were just plain and simple fun. He'd always enjoyed making people laugh, even at his or his twin's expense, and now they were in the position to really make that dream a reality with a bit more hard work and creative spirit. Picturing a box of products in outrageously hideous colours and designs that made the viewers eyes want to drop out of their head in disgust with his name printed onto it kept him up at night sometimes, and he'd often grab the journal - dubbed proudly as the "Laughs Log" - and doodle whatever he'd been thinking about on the cusp of sleep. Being in Zonko's always gave him hope and encouragement to do the best he could and try everything he thought of at least once, even if Lee or George seemed skeptical. That was how he'd successfully brought about the prototype for nearly half of their Explosive Enterprises, not to mention countless other candies that could be included in their Skiving Snackboxes.

"Blimey, Fred, come look at this!" George called from a few rows over in excitement. The third year girls at the end of the aisle moved flush against the shelves as soon as Fred took a step in their direction and he sent them a wink in thanks. He nearly skipped over to where he could see George's blazingly red hair knowing that whatever he was looking at would be good.

"Look's like old Zonko's extended his teacup range," Lee quipped as George held up a silver spoon. Fred studied it for a moment, looking for possible tells that would reveal what the seemingly harmless object would do before it revealed himself. "Any guesses?"

"Better be quick, Freddy." George commanded as the spoon started to shake softly in his hand.

Fred looked at the tip of the spoon and quickly noticed a split down its irreguarly thick band. "Is it a biting spoon?" he asked George and Lee who looked at him excitedly.

"Close!" George said encouragingly. "It only works with liquid, how's that for a hint?"

Only in liquid…the idea sent his mind in a whirlwind. A spoon in liquid meant endless possibilities, couldn't it? What if the spoon suddenly shot out of the person's hand and started spinning their soup recklessly, getting it over everything else on the table? No, this spoon wouldn't do that, it was a teaspoon. Maybe he should write that idea down, though. What about a spoon that drank the liquid slowly enough that the drinker barely realised until they went to take a sip and there was nothing left? No, the handle (that was attempting to move more in George's clutches) didn't look like anything but the tip of the spoon was magically affected, and there would be no storage on the spoon for liquid to hold it. He looked at Lee and asked, "Does it scream at unsuspecting users?"

"Close enough!" Lee said as George used the spoon to scoop some water from a display glass nearby. He held it out to Fred like a mother feeding a toddler and looked at him expectantly. "Here comes the broom, Freddy-Weddy!"

"Piss off!" Fred said with a laugh, but held his mouth open expectantly. George went to tip the water into his mouth, but Fred jumped back and coughed in surprise. With a wheeze, he asked, "What the hell is that?"

"This, dear brother," George said with a flourish as Lee continued to laugh along with two Ravenclaws that had witnessed Fred having a raspberry blown into his mouth by a teaspoon, "is Zonko's Fluid-Spitting Teaspoon! Isn't it neat? It goes great with the Nose-Biting Teacups, doesn't it? As soon as you try to dry your teaspoon with your mouth and have it blow a raspberry down your throat, you'd think the jokes would be over, wouldn't you? Nope, _bang_ , there's your nose bitten off by a teacup!"

"Brilliant," said Fred with wonder as he had a closer look at the teaspoon, careful not to get too close to the tip. He suspected it was triggered by a charm that let the spoon know there was something within range and he ran the back of his left hand near the tip. Sure enough, he watched a little silver tongue blow a wet raspberry at the back of his hand through the lips of the spoon. "Absolutely brilliant."

"We've got seven in the basket already." George said with a devious smirk. "One for each of the family - plus Harry, I guess, if Percy's still being a prat by next hols."

"Should we make it eight for Granger? Nine or ten for Sirius and Lupin?"

"We'll make it eight for Granger, otherwise we're blowing our whole budget on silverware." George said as he added an extra box to the basket Lee was holding. "What've you found?"

Fred dumped what he was holding into Lee's basket, grateful that the Extending charm seemed to be holding on it. "Just the essentials…hang on, what's the time?"

"I already saw your brother heading towards the Hogs Head, so we better be making a move-on" Lee said cheerfully.

"Fair enough. What's that?" Fred asked as they walked towards the counter, pointing at a metal rod sticking out of the basket as if begging to be touched. George already had his hands in his pockets and was extruding Galleons as the shop assistant tapped his wand to each of the items that had been tipped onto the counter.

"Robe Probe." George said with a grin. "Another new one from Zonko and co. I wish we could make stuff up like this on the spot." he said with a dreamy air to his tone.

"I've got a few ideas to add to the Log" Fred offered to his brother as he took one of the several bags marked _Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop - Jokes, Tricks, Toys & Games_. George grinned again and grabbed the remainder of the bags as Lee held the door to the shop open. Fred's face was instantly smacked with the cold and his hands were too full to fix his hair to stay out of his eyes, so he and his accomplices made their way to the Hogs Head as quickly as they could without breaking their necks. They were the last of the groups of people to enter the pub and Fred made his way to the counter instantly, asking the barman for - he looked over his shoulder and did a mental head-count of students - twenty five Butterbeers. He would've laughed at the look the barkeep gave him if it had been the lovely Madame Rosmerta, but the old man behind the bar was definitely not as friendly - or distinctively curvy - as her, and he made a mental note to make sure nothing from Zonko's was left behind lest it be taken as a threat.

He dumped his bags of goodies precariously on a nearby barstool and told the students to cough up as he walked around collecting their Galleons. As he watched everyone grab a Butterbeer from the bar while steering clear of the witch in a long, dark veil, he noticed Harry looking at Hermione with a thunderous expression as Ron looked around the room and greeted his fellow students. Hermione was whispering something to Harry as her eyes darted around at the people gathered in front of her, and her eyes met Fred's for a fraction of a second before passing over him. He wasn't sure she'd actually noticed, but she gave a strained smile to the vicinity of the group and stood from her seat and directed everyone's attention away from Harry. Almost, anyway.

He and George came to the dingy pub because Ron and Hermione - mostly Hermione - had told them Harry would be in charge. From Harry's continual glares at her, though, he suspected this wasn't going to play out like she thought it had. It didn't surprise him that Hermione claimed to be the mastermind behind the gathering, and she probably _could_ run a proper Defense Club or whatever this was going to be, but the thrill of being taught by the Boy-Who-Got-Rid-of-Oldy-Mouldy wasn't something Harry could pass down to her. He was half stunned that she didn't try and give the Corner bloke a detention for interrupting her speech. The poor thing seemed nervous as all hell though, so-

He took in a breath as Hermione said You-Know-Who's name. Someone - a younger girl who was friends with the Chang girl Harry seemed to have a crush on - looked rather stupid as she clutched onto her half-empty bottle of Butterbeer in fright after spilling most of it down her top as she shrieked. Neville failed to hide his yelp behind a cough, but Fred was busy staring at Hermione.

He knew that You-Know-Who was back, he and George had complete faith in Harry along with the rest of his family bar Percy. Realistically he knew it wouldn't be long until there was another battle or war that meant he'd have to stand up and fight, and he was grateful that he was at least of age so he could convince someone to let him and George join the order. But it was Hermione's bravery that had honestly made an impact. He was pretty sure she'd never said the name out loud, and if it was for dramatic effect, well, she definitely got it. Fred looked over to George and gave him a wide eyed look, which his twin copied with a small nod. They turned back to the group as some prat named Smith started to argue with Hermione and Ron over proof of You-Know-Who's return.

Harry stood and joined the argument with Smith as he opened his mouth to shut the Hufflepuff up instead of fighting with Hermione. Harry's cold, almost dismissive tone as he put Zacharias in his place was not one Fred would usually associate with him, but it got the job done well enough, and Smith stayed in his chair after Harry offered him a chance to leave. Fred listened intently to the conversation as it twisted from one of Harry's greatest feats to the other, throwing in a quip here and there as he deemed appropriate. He laughed as Harry muttered that his mother was right, he did get enough attention as it was, and he listened to Harry humbly confirm the rest of the rumours that people had heard about him.

The Smith kid made some ridiculous remark about Harry trying to get out of showing everyone what he said he could do and Fred felt a jolt of anger hit his system. This was Harry Potter, practically his adopted brother (not that he didn't have enough), standing there and taking everything this prick said without barely a complaint? That was bullshit!

"That's not what he said," Fred snarled, and he was vaguely surprised at the amount of anger he was feeling over Harry's treatment. George offered to clean out Smith's ears with the Robe Probe and Fred, partially lost in anger, threatened to shove it into unspeakable places.

"Yes, well," Hermione said, breaking his and Smith's staring match. He looked over to Hermione and locked eyes with her, and the irritation he had been feeling was all but squelched as she gave him a small but genuine smile of appreciation. "The point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

He listened to the murmurs of agreement but didn't join in, too confused by how easily his annoyance disappeared. Not that he didn't agree, he'd love to tell his grandkids he'd been taught by the great Harry Potter himself.

"-don't think there's any point meeting less than once a week-" Hermione's suggestion snapped him out of his thoughts, but Angelina was the one to interrupt her this time, then a member of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams. Hermione, irritated herself now, went on about the importance of learning to defend themselves against - he sucked in another breath at the name again - and he admired her bravery again. It was replaced by irritation again as she and Luna got into an argument about some creature or another, and Hermione began to turn the same colour of the maroon jumper she was wearing. Fred opened his mouth to defend Hermione against Luna's accusations of being narrow-minded - she was organising a secret defense club for Merlin's sake! - but Umbridge's disgusting throat was cleared somewhere near him. His, and many other, heads turned around and he was sure they were busted, but his little sister was smiling as she laughed at their expressions. Ginny got the conversation back on track as the group tried to think of a place to hold the upcoming meetings.

He watched as Hermione fumbled around in her bag and straightened her back with a blank piece of parchment and newish looking quill in her hand. He could sense her nervousness as she asked the group to keep the meeting a secret. Well, if she could be braver than him and use You-Know-Who's name twice in one day, he could sign some ruddy parchment, couldn't he?

He reached across the table that separated them and took the parchment and quill. Hermione looked at him in surprise as he signed his name with a cheerful grin. He hoped it would inspire the others sitting around the table that it was a good idea and nothing would go wrong, but it didn't seem to go to plan as everyone was looking around at each other nervously. Still keeping his cheery demeanour, he handed the parchment and quill back to Hermione and caught her looking at him. He flashed her a well-meaning grin, but she herself looked nervous.

"Right, you lot are being ridiculous. You've just agreed that this is an important thing to be doing, haven't you? It's a piece of parchment for Merlin's sake, it's not like it will hurt you -" Fred paused for a moment as he watched Hermione turn a shade paler, but he persevered. "- and even if Hermione was careless enough to let this list slip away from her, which we _all_ know she isn't, who cares? We should be taking a stand against Toadbridge, she's the worst thing to happen to Hogwarts since, I dunno, the house elves agreeing not to stock shampoo in Snape's bathroom! I've signed it because I don't want to sit back and let that hag take over the school I love, even if I don't pay attention in classes or get the best results. You all know it's important, so sign the parchment and know that you're doing the right thing." he said with an air of finality.

George looked at him for a moment curiously but asked Hermione for the parchment. After he'd signed his name he passed it to Lee who didn't hesitate to accept and sign his own name. After that the parchment went around the tables and Fred was glad to note that only a few people hesitated - Cho's friend and Smith. He wouldn't admit it, but he was watching the parchment go around the tables because he didn't really want to look at Hermione. It was a strange sensation he was getting, but he knew that if he looked at her he might just start spouting off some random nonsense again, and who knows what he'd say?

"Well, times ticking on," he said briskly and stood, gathering the bags on the barstool next to him and making sure nothing had fallen under the table. "George, Lee and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later." He walked towards the door and was glad to hear two sets of footprints behind him. He nodded to the old barkeep and headed out the door and instantly regretting gathering the bags before doing something with his hair as the wind still hadn't let up. He'd been too distracted, though, and now he was dealing with the repurcussions of the odd feeling he had sitting in his chest that he strongly suspected was Granger's doing. He stood and waited for Lee and George in the snappy wind, going over the conversations that had happened minutes ago. Nothing had been out of the ordinary, really, so he was surprised that the hard ball of whatever he was feeling in his chest wasn't easing. As soon as George and Lee had caught up he walked next to them, barely listening to their conversation about contacting Mundungus for more Class C substances. Something wasn't right within him, but he'd be damned if he knew what.


	4. Chapter 3: The Match

A/N: I struggled to write this chapter because I kept having ideas for the upcoming chapters. Chapter 39 is going to be a rollercoaster, lemme tell you. At least this chapter has some Fred/Hermione action!

I should also note that because I'm planning on sticking as close to the original HP series as possible, some lines are going to be lovingly borrowed or tweaked. Obviously I don't own them, so please don't sue me.

* * *

"I bet you a Galleon that you can't down that pint of pumpkin juice in ten seconds" Lee bet Fred as they sat across each other at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Fred eyed the full glass he'd just poured and weighed his odds in his mind, but shook his head after a moment. It was the morning of the first Quidditch match in over a year, and he didn't want to be feeling the ill-effects of a bet (easily) won, even for the large prize at stake. Lee shrugged in acceptance and took a large bite of his eggs.

Fred's gaze wandered over the Great Hall for the fourth time that morning as his nervous excitement grew. Between the secret D.A. meetings, absurd amounts of Quidditch practice demanded of the team by Angelina, and owling various services about stock for their potentially upcoming shop, he was surprised at how quickly the day had snuck up on him. The eagerness to get onto the pitch was growing within him; he could feel it building in his very bones as he looked around the room and grinned at the familiar red and gold scarves donned by almost every person at his table. As his eyes moved over the room he noted the other tables wearing their own colours - not a surprise, honestly - but something about the Slytherins seemed off. Joyful Slytherins were dangerous Slytherins, and he made a mental note to be a tad bit cautious when making his way down to the pitch.

As his eyes continued around the room he saw a flash of red walking through the vast entryway the open doors to the Great Hall afforded. He waved to his twin, a futile gesture as George was already making his way over to him, and he saw Hermione and Ginny approach the Gryffindor table a few paces behind him. Fred's eyes followed Hermione until she reached her destination of the bench across from a normal looking Harry and a nauseous Ron. His heart went out to Ron, it really did. He half wanted to go and wish his brother luck for today - Merlin knew they'd need it with the way he'd been defending half the time in practice - but he was a good older brother who knew his boundaries most of the time. He'd probably think he was taking the piss out of him and he needed him in as top form as they could get. If they got through this match alive, he knew that Ron's next performance could only get better.

George had made it to the spot next to Lee and followed his line of sight. George must've finally noticed Ron's peaky colour and the way he was pushing his food around his place as he sighed and poured himself a cup of steaming tea. Fred was the bigger eater on a game day and didn't hesitate to eat a larger-than-normal breakfast, whereas his twin would usually settle on a cup of tea and a piece of toast to get him through the morning. It wasn't because of nerves or stress, they'd been playing Quidditch since they could ride on the back of Bill and Charlie's brooms at the Burrow over school holidays. They just knew that they'd function better on their own amount of food. It was this difference that helped Lee start to work out who was who in their second year when they'd started playing Quidditch for Gryffindor, as he'd bragged he'd unlocked the secret to working out which twin was which. Unfortunately for him, this was useless for his commentating, because the speed of the game plus the same last name pressed on the back of the uniforms meant he was in a state of confusion the moment their feet left the ground.

"Alright?" Fred asked between mouthfuls of eggs. George had poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and his eyes were wandering around the room like his had been.

"Yeah, alright. You?"

Fred nodded as he chewed, reminding himself to slow down and actually chew the food in his gob before swallowing it. All they needed was two of the Weasley brothers being off their A-game. "Not sure about the Slythery gits, though?"

"Yeah?" George asked noncommittally as his still-waking eyes made their way to the table across the hall. His brow furrowed and his eyes met Fred's for a moment before his eyes narrowed even further as he leant forward. "What're they wearing?"

"Dunno, but they looked pretty effin' smug about themselves walking in here, didn't they?" Lee said as he turned to Fred.

"Right, you lot nearly done?" Angelina asked, distracting Fred from trying to work out what the Slytherins were up to. Katie and Alicia were behind her, Alicia eating a piece of toast while Katie gave George a grin in greeting. "We're all getting to the pitch to change early and work out any kinks with the conditions at the field."

"Give us a mo', yeah? We'll be there." George said as he sipped on his drink. Angelina nodded curtly at them and took a step or two forward without another word, the two girls following after her. Fred knew she was in Full Quidditch Mode and forgave her instantly for her less than stellar greeting. He knew how much stress she felt she was under after the year off and the loss of a great captain, but he knew Oliver would've been proud of his replacement, particularly her determination and passion for the sport. It was fanciable, really.

Her steps stopped and she turned around, making her way back to the three boys quickly. She leant in close to Fred and his heartrate sped up slightly, the crush formed in his third year never truly going away, but so small that it was quite easy to miss most days. Her hair was tied in two tight braids that didn't let a single hair escape from the roots to the ends, but he knew that by the time they were in the air flyaways would be running rampant around her face. As she placed her palm flat on the table near the hand Fred was holding his knife in he looked straight ahead at Lee, who swallowed forcefully and looked away from Ange's flickering but sturdy gaze between Fred and his twin. Her quiet voice was powerful. "Don't let your brother near the Slytherins, got it?"

"Look at him, Angie, it's not like he's in a state to brawl with them!" Fred exclaimed as Lee and George nodded.

Angelina's hand that was further from Fred curled into a fist as she leant slightly lower, keeping a balanced tone even though the anger was evident in her voice and stance. "You haven't seen their robes then, have you? They're all wearing silver badges with crowns, 'Weasley is Our King' carved into them. Ridiculous, honestly, but knowing your brother it's going to get to him. Do _not_ let him near the Slytherins."

"Yes, mum." Fred and George said together. Angelina rolled her eyes before pushing off from the table and walking away with Katie and Alicia yet again. The three girls continued down the table and made their way to Sloper and Kirke, the reserve Beaters who would take over for he and George if something went wrong, but Fred's watch was interrupted by Lee boisterous voice.

"And you reckon you're _not_ shagging her - what's with the eyes then, mate?!"

"I am not _shagging_ Bell, thank you," George said as he took a large swig of his pumpkin juice. Fred continued to eat, the eagerness for the wind in his hair turning into a storm of bitter restlessness with being stuck to the ground for the time being. "- unless a few casual encounters in broom closets means shagging, but you already knew about that," continued George. "What we _don't_ know is when you're gonna ask Ange out for real, isn't it?"

George's eyes locked with Fred's and he nodded his agreement to Lee. Lee's eyes darted back and forth between them, his brown eyes getting larger and more frightened as they bounced between matching sets of blue. It was humorous to watch his mate become so flustered, but he refused to let his smirk shine through, it was too amusing.

"I'm not- I, I… There's nothing going on!" Lee spluttered as his dark face became tinged with red heat.

"Precisely the point! Find a quiet place to ask her out - _properly_ , not some call from the opposite end of the Common Room again-"

"-or during your commentary-"

"-and she might be more open to it!" Fred finished, finally letting a smile out. His best mate looked shell-shocked, as if he hadn't realised what a tosser he'd looked like for the past few months as he pinned over Johnson.

"But you two are-"

"Nothing more than friends." Fred said with a truthful air of finality. Now that they had the funds to go with the ideas and mail-orders of a full blown business venture, he didn't want to waste time with a bird. Unless that bird would definitely not slow him down or make him lose sight of their dream. Angie was an amazing woman; funny, charismatic, laid back, not to mention a body you'd catch yourself thinking about on a day she wore her uniform tighter than usual, but he also knew if their ideas or dreams in life didn't mesh they wouldn't really spend much time together. Fred couldn't give her as much as she wanted from him, so they had mutually agreed that once he'd set up shop and worked through a (hopefully) swamped opening/school season of pranks and good fun they could test the relationship waters then. She'd said during their conversation that she wouldn't wait for him, and she'd nodded when he said he didn't expect her to but they could always reconnect if they were still single and ready at the same time.

It was quite a grown-up conversation, and Fred hoped he wouldn't have to have another one soon. Why waste life being so serious all the time?

"I don't really want to date her!" Lee said as George stood from his seat next to him. He stole a crust from Fred's plate as nodded his head towards the entrance to the Hall.

"Sure, you do!" George exclaimed happily. "Should just ask her out properly, what's the worst that could happen? She says no?" Fred and Lee rose from their seats, Fred quickly draining the last of his pumpkin juice. "It's our last year, mate. She says no and we can all forget about it after graduation if it's still a talking point, right Gred?"

"'Course!" Fred said as they began to walk towards the doors. He looked over to the Slytherin table wearily as something must have happened based on the noises he heard. A deafening roar made him turn around and made him wish his wand wasn't stashed away in his top drawer for safekeeping. As soon as the noise stopped his wildly moving eyes found the side of a lion's head securely attached to the top of a student's head. Nearly as soon as he saw it the student - Luna, he could see by the braid sticking out from the mane and the pale skin of her legs not covered by socks - walk away from his little brother, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione.

Angelina hastily made her way to the four of them and let Harry and Ron know to get to the pitch as soon as they were finished. Though he was too far away to actually hear the conversation, he hazarded an educated guess by the way Ron's face had turned a dashing shade of green again. Fred began to fear for Gryffindor's chances.

Harry and Ron stood from the table as he, George, and Lee approached. Hermione stood not but a moment after, grabbing onto Harry's arm and whispering something in his ear. He and George exchanged looks, but went to talk to their brother and stick to their promise to Angelina about keeping him away from slimy gits.

Hermione beat them there, though, and Fred noted that she took in a deep breath before placing her hand on Ron's shoulder and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. A small spark of what he could only deem as confusion seemed to want to ignite his thoughts, but he heard Hermione wish Ron luck as soon as her lips left his cheek, then wish Harry the same thing.

He shook his head at his strange thoughts and continued walking over to Harry and Ron. Hermione was already sitting down at the table with Ginny and was cutting into her bacon like nothing had happened. Nothing _had_ happened, really. He shook his head again, pretending to get his hair out of his eyes when George looked at him curiously. Friends wished each other good luck, didn't they? She'd probably wished Ron and Harry luck dozens of times, especially with all the scrapes they'd found themselves in. And besides, he reckoned everyone knew about Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley except for, well, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. It was just a matter of time until his darling brother pulled his head out of his arse and realised there was a somewhat attractive young lady that must've sustained a head injury in her youth that seemed interested in him.

Maybe that head would leave that arse sooner than Fred thought judging by the way Ron was holding his cheek in disbelief. Ron followed Harry out of the Hall only because Harry's hand was gripping Ron's bicep, and Fred joined in the laughter that George and Lee let out as they watched their brother.

"You sure have an effect on him, Hermione!" George said as they passed where she was sitting. Hermione's cheeks were warmed by a delicate blush that could've easily been missed if Fred hadn't been staring right at her with his own grin in place - now he had some new ammunition to tease his brother with, after all - but she let her hair fall in her face as she rolled her eyes and took a small bite of her bacon.

"Oh, please!" Ginny said as she looked at the twins. "That's, what? The second kiss he's ever had from outside of the family? It wouldn't matter who it came from."

"But it's that much better that it came from the lovely Miss Granger, isn't it?" Fred said with a gleam of mischief in his eye. He definitely couldn't mistake her blush then, not with the way it crept up her cheeks and seemed to illuminate the smile she was trying to hide.

Hermione took a sip of her tea and looked at her watch as she put the cup back on its saucer. "Shouldn't you three be getting down to the pitch?"

"Don't we get good luck wishes too?" George asked in a mockingly sweet voice.

Fred could sense that Hermione was becoming uncomfortable at the topic and knew that they needed to stop while they were ahead. He was honestly surprised that she hadn't pulled out her Seriously Stern face and told them off for loitering in a walkway.

"C'mon, Forge," Fred said as he grabbed his bicep to lead him away. "Our future sister-in-law deserves a quiet breakfast. Anyway, we're going to pulverize Slytherin with or without luck, aren't we?"

"Too right." agreed George. "Make sure you save a cheer for us when you're not busy staring at Ron's form on his broom!"

"George!" Ginny and Fred said indignantly as Hermione's face turned as red as her scarf. Lee looked like he wanted to be swallowed into the ground from second-hand embarrassment, while Hermione looked like she was fighting between feeling mortified and…something else he couldn't recognise on her features.

The mysterious look took over and she shot Ginny a sideways glance as she stood up again. Fred could very easily identify the look of playful trouble in his sister's face and vaguely wondered what the hell Granger was up to.

"George, you're right," Hermione sighed as she stood next to Fred and addressed his twin. Fred's hand was still on George's bicep, and he fought the urge to pull his twin away from Hermione before they got a Howler from their mother as soon as Ron dobbed them in for pissing her off. The look in her eye reminded him of…well, himself.

"There's no need to not wish you two luck as well. The Slytherins are probably going to try something, based on their stupid badges, so…good luck, George!" Lee started to laugh as Hermione held out a hand for George to shake. Admitting defeat with a self-reproaching grin he shook Hermione's hand warmly.

"And good luck to you too, Fred." she said with a much quieter voice than the vibrant tone she used with George. Before he knew it, Hermione Granger was placing both hands on his broad shoulders for leverage and was planting the quickest of kisses to his own cheek. He could only feel the heat of her blushing face radiating onto his skin for a moment, but he turned to look at her before she let go of his shoulders and planted her feet firmly back on the floor.

A questioning glance from her warm eyes met his and he could've sworn his heart had skipped a beat. Hermione Granger using him, Fred Weasley, for a prank against his brother? An on-the-spot prank that now had Lee and Ginny gasping for air and George with a disbelieving look on his face and eyebrows raised higher than he'd ever seen them?

Brilliant.

"We're still going to be late!" Fred said as he moved his arm away from his brothers and instead wrapped it around his shoulders in mock consolation. "Maybe if you play _really really_ well today, Granger will finally give in, hmm?"

"Who knew you had it in you, Hermione?" George asked as he threw her a wink. There was no hint of mortification left on her face anymore, just that look that Fred decided was one he wanted to see more of. Hints of carefree glee mixed with calculating mischief made her face light up, and it warmed him to see it. Maybe they'd have to invite her to a product planning session and steal some ideas?

"We'll see you down at the pitch!" Ginny called as the boys started to walk away. Lee was still laughing, marvelling that of all people, _Hermione_ was the one to knock George down a peg. George obviously found it amusing and Fred was in the same boat, grinning from ear to ear and feeling like he'd unlocked something new about someone he'd known for five years. He was vaguely aware that his chest was filled with that same feeling from the Hogs Head a month ago, not entirely unpleasant but definitely something to do with Hermione. Maybe it was just nerves for the game, or a bit of guilt for his brother, or who knows. It was definitely something to do with Hermione, though, and it wasn't like what he felt with Ange.

He threw a glance back at the table and saw Ginny talking animatedly to Hermione as she cut her food. Hermione was looking at the three of them leave however, and seemed surprised that Fred turned around. Caught like a deer in floodlights, her eyes widened as they met his. Without conscious thought, he sent an uninhibited grin her way, and to his delight her eyes relaxed as she sent him a small smile back before turning to Ginny and joining her conversation.

He was distracted by George and Lee as he walked to the pitch, but he seemed to ride the high of a prank gone right until the match started.

* * *

HGFWHGFWHGFWHGFW

* * *

He'd only told Granger a half-truth. They'd won the match, but they hadn't completely pulverised Slytherin like he'd wanted to. Hadn't sent them spiralling into the coarse dirt below, hadn't forced them to fly into the stands or hand upside down from their brooms with the sheer skill of the Gryffindor team. But there would be time later in the year to do that one more time before he and George finished school. All that Fred could focus on now was the feeling of winning a Quidditch match and feeling the roar of the delighted crowd and the sweaty hugs and handshakes from his team members. And the slight pain that he could still feel from that rogue Bludger, but that was easily overshadowed.

He'd even admit the victory was made that much sweeter after hearing that fucking stupid song on repeat the entire match. In the air he could use the Bludger as a target for his rage, sending it fully across the pitch as he pictured Malfoy's head in its place and swinging cleanly through it. 'Weasley is Our King', what idiots. Too bad it had nearly worked.

He finally caught sight of Harry, hair standing up in all directions from wind, sweat, and people messing it up as they sent their congratulations. He and George set off to shake Harry's hand and promise they'd take care of Ron if he didn't listen to him, but Malfoy's voice cut through the excited cheers.

Fred felt his face harden at Malfoy's vicious insult and nearly tried to sock him one there and then. The adrenaline from playing a decent Quidditch game was still in his system and he tried to lash out, but Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, bless them, were holding him back already. Fred noted in the back of his mind that George was only held back by Harry but was still giving it all his might to get a good swing at the stupid fucking ferret.

"Or perhaps," said Malfoy, leering as he backed away, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"

"Harry, don't you dare!" Hermione shouted as Harry went to let go of George. Her face was red and her chest was heaving from her run from the top of the stands to the middle of the pitch, but she made her way to Harry and held him back the same way he was holding George. A large crowd was beginning to form around the two teams yet no teachers seemed to be nearby.

"Oh yes, let's bring the _mudblood_ into this, shall we?" Malfoy asked with bravado to the rest of the Slytherin team as they snickered. "You're always a fact checking know-it-all; so tell us, is the stench of the shack they call a home _really_ able to be smelt throughout the nearby village, or is it just their lack of money and human decency that keeps the townsfolk away?"

"Can I please get some help?" Hermione asked as Harry struggled intently against her. Katie and Alicia moved forward and grabbed onto Harry and George respectively.

Malfoy's laugh ripped through Fred's insides. First, he organised that ridiculous song to be sung throughout the match, then he gets away with insulting his family, Harry's family, and Hermione? Wrath was overtaking his body and he could feel all rational thoughts exit through his mind's fire escape.

He wasn't the only one feeling that way. George was now being held back by Alicia and Lee, who must've run down from the commentators stand as soon as the match was over. Harry's attacks were being prevented by Katie and Hermione, but Ginny was now making her way down and was attempting to talk some sense into him. Malfoy refused to let up though and continued to berate the Weasley clan as well as Harry and Hermione. Taunt after taunt was thrown much to the Slytherin crowd's delight and raucous shrieks of joy were piercing his ears.

"And we enjoyed your show this morning, Mudblood!" Malfoy called over the somehow still increasing noise of the Slytherins. In all his fury Fred could only just make out the form of Umbridge approaching the group as quickly as her stumpy legs would bring her, but she was still far off. McGonagall and Snape were with Madame Hooch and Crabbe still, and no other teachers were within Fred's narrow line of sight. "It's a shame that your precious little blood traitor boyfriend didn't get to see you move onto the next Weasel as soon as he was out of the room!"

Chaos erupted out of the Gryffindor team. Katie, Alicia, Hermione, Ginny, and Lee were practically thrown to the side as George and Harry's rage could not be contained anymore. Angelina was still desperately holding onto Fred, her strong muscles and tall form allowing her a slight advantage to the other Chasers. Harry got to Malfoy first, sinking a fast blow into his stomach as George caught up and attempted a swing at his head.

Fred attempted to shake Angelina off with erratic movements of his sweaty body and after a moment he got away and started to run towards the Fantastic Fucking Flying Ferret and show him how dirty the Weasley's could really fight.

His trajectory towards Malfoy was interrupted by a firm hand to his chest. He made to shove it away from him, but the pleading voice calling his name desperately made him look down. Hermione was looking at him with anguish as the rest of the team fought to get Harry and George under control.

"Did you hear him, Hermione? He's a fucking prick!"

"I know, I know! But Umbridge is coming!" she said hurriedly, clutching the chest of his Quidditch robes between both hands now. "You will get into so much trouble!"

"I don't care!" Fred roared. With a sense of déjà vu he stuck his hand out at Malfoy as if something would happen even without his wand. And something did.

Cries from the Slytherins crowded around their leader rang out as Malfoy was knocked from his feet and send flying, taking down three or four students that were in his path. They landed in a heap and all jumped out from underneath Malfoy, who was stirring feebly.

Harry and George looked at each other from between many hands trying to hold them back, as if the other knew what spell he'd been hit with. As the mob of gathered Slytherins and Gryffindors looked around for a culprit holding a wand Fred dropped his hand quickly, shakily placing it on Hermione's shoulders for balance. He felt light-headed and exhausted, and Hermione's eyes flashed worryingly at him as Umbridge finally made it to the group.

"What is the meaning of all this?" Umbridge asked as she stood between the two groups, her large sparkly hairclips glistening in the bright light reflected off the clouds above. She looked between the two groups and her eyes caught on Malfoy clutching at the back of his head and stomach in pain.

"They _attacked_ me, professor!" Malfoy cried from the ground, though it lacked its usual malice.

"Potter, is this true?"

"I didn't knock him to the ground!" Harry called in indignation as the Gryffindors around them agreed.

"Hem, hem." Umbridge coughed as the noise of the gathering grew in Harry's defence. "I do believe that I personally witnessed you attacking young Mister Malfoy here, and I daresay that I am the only observer, no?"

The Slytherin gang rushed to call out that they too had seen Harry beat into Malfoy. Umbridge allowed the support for Malfoy to last a lot longer than support for Harry, but Fred was too busy focusing on regaining his sense of balance to say anything. Hermione had noticed that he was struggling too and stopped clutching at his uniform, instead holding one hand on his chest again and another on his waist as he swayed involuntarily.

"And you, Mister Weasley, were involved too, were you not?" Umbridge's beady eyes had swung over to George's direction, and the fact that he was still being held back by his team members did him no favours. "Which Weasley would you be them, hmm?"

"George." he spat back savagely.

"I would watch your tone, young boy." Umbridge said. "I think a little chat in my office should clear things up, will it not? Mister Potter, Messrs Weasley's, follow me please."

"Messrs? Why both of them?" Angelina asked coldly. "Fred didn't do anything, he's all the way back there!"

"Miss Johnson, do you think you ought to join this meeting too?" Umbridge questioned, her toadlike face turning to face the captain hungrily. Angelina furrowed her brow in anger and looked away. A smart choice he believed, as he doubted this would end well.

McGonagall suddenly found her way next to Umbridge and demanded an explanation. As the two professors fought, Fred felt Hermione look up at him with concern. He attempted to smile down at her, to show her he was alright, but it must've come out as a grimace because she made her grip on his waist more secure. He was thankful, really. Whatever he'd done to Malfoy - and he fully believed that he'd done it, no one else had a wand and he felt a rush of something surge through him as he stuck his arm out - had really taken the energy from him.

"Potter, Weasley's, you will be coming to my office now. Goyle, assist Malfoy with making his way to the Hospital Wing as soon as Madame Hooch deems him well enough to move." McGonagall demanded as she made her way across the pitch and back to the castle.

"Professor McGonagall!" called Hermione from his side. Her voice was filled with worry and he tried not to stagger as her grip on him faltered. McGonagall turned around and looked at Hermione questioningly.

"I don't think Fred can make it,'' she said quietly. "I don't know what's happened to him, but he's…"

"Mister Weasley, have you consumed one of your foolish creations to get out of trouble again?"

He could only shake his head at the accusation, not bothering to muster up the energy to ask her how she knew. Some second year had probably blabbed or she'd seen a wrapper. He held his Head of House's gaze as she gave him a once over.

"Miss Johnson and Mister Jordan, help Miss Granger escort Mister Weasley to the Hospital Wing and inform Miss Pomfrey that he is not to leave until I come and speak to her."

The three of them muttered their consent and made sure Fred was fully supported before slowly making their way up to the castle, four sets of eyes flickering between Fred, the ground, and the two sullen looking students trailing behind the formidable Professor stalking up to the castle. As they made their way to the steps, Umbridge slinked her way past the four of them, following a path they all knew lead to McGonagall's office.

"We're done for, aren't we?" Fred groaned as they made their way up the staircase slowly. Angelina told him to get a grip and that everything would be okay, but the force of the words didn't match the worry etched onto her face.

They made it to the Hospital Wing and Fred was delighted to crash into the first empty bed he saw. Lee called for Madame Pomfrey and Angelina repeated McGonagall's message to her. As the older witch pottered around and ran diagnostic spells over his body, his three Gryffindor mates hung around and observed. When he'd finally convinced the Healer that he was simply feeling exhausted and had probably overworked himself in the scuffle she demanded that everyone leave the Hospital Wing immediately so he could get some rest and 'get out of her hair before he starts testing new ideas in here again'. He cracked a grin at that and Lee grinned back, slapping his shoulder and telling him he'd be back with George later. Angelina decided that she'd round up the rest of the team and wait for their Seeker and Beater to return with a warning that he better not pull the same stunt after the next game or he could be off the team. He stuck his tongue out to her at that, and she responded by ruffling his hair and heading out the door.

That left him and Hermione in the empty Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey had gone to owl his parents, as was customary for any sport or class endeavours that resulted in staying in the Wing for more than an hour. He doubted his parents would mind much, because they'd gotten similar letters sent home every few weeks.

"I guess I should head off, too." Hermione's voice said to break him out of his daydreams. Or dreams. He was pretty tired.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Fred said encouragingly. She could be nice company he supposed, and he really wasn't ready for her to leave yet.

"I should, though. I don't think anyone has seen Ron since Harry caught the Snitch." Hermione said with a sigh as she got out of the chair at the foot of his bed.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Did you want me to stay?"

How was he supposed to answer that question? Something was happening and he felt like he was going bonkers. No, of course he wanted her to stay. Her touch, though as brief as they had been (apart from her lugging him up the stairs) had felt strange. Not odd, not wrong, but foreign. It wasn't the heat he felt with Ange, but it was a subtle warmth if he had to give it a name. Contentment, maybe. But it was a new feeling nonetheless, and he seemed to only feel it when she was nearby, touching him. It was pleasure and happiness that warmed his veins, but she obviously didn't feel it, did she?

"Nah, go ahead and make sure my brother's alive."

"Are you sure?" she asked with doubt.

"Yeah, I'm sure. He needs you now, but let him know we - George and I, and everyone else in the team, really - don't think he's a failure. Stupid song would've thrown anyone off their game."

She looked at him for a moment, eyes studying him thoughtfully. If this is how her books felt, they must've been terrified every time she approached their shelf.

She walked closer to him and sat in the chair next to his bed, angled towards his feet. She leaned on the arm of the chair and brought herself closer to him, and he could smell the pitch on her hair. "How did you do what you did to Malfoy?"

"Huh?"

"You, you _flung_ him into the air like he was a doll! Without a wand!" she whispered with fervent energy. "That's non-verbal, wandless magic that takes _years_ to master, and you've barely started your seventh year!"

He looked at her from his bed, now wanting nothing more than to sink into unconsciousness. "Honestly, Hermione? I have no idea. It was like it was an instinct, y'know?"

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "An instinct. Really."

"I was sort of hoping you'd have more of an idea than me, honestly."

"How would I know?! You've done it _once_ , not half an hour ago? When have I had time to go to the library and research? What would I even look for?"

"I don't know! Look, Herm-"

"Out! I thought I asked all visitors to leave; the boy needs rest!" Madame Pomfrey called with an envelope in her hand.

Hermione jumped to her feet immediately, obviously uncomfortable with being told off. Fred wished she would stay but knew already that the extra moments she'd stayed had already pushed his luck, not to mentioned he'd hacked her off.

"I'm sorry, Madame Pomfrey, I was just leaving."

"You can come and check on him after your Head of House speaks to him, but I daresay that will not be until a few hours from now."

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey." Hermione said obediently. Fred gave a small grin at her immediate response to an authoritative figure, reminiscing about how she'd joked around with him and his twin earlier that very morning.

"I guess I'll-"

Hermione was interrupted by the doors opening, this time with Goyle supporting a dazed Malfoy. Goyle glared at Fred and Hermione as he passed them and dropped Malfoy into the bed at the back of the Wing, but Malfoy looked as if he was going to pass out. Madame Pomfrey rushed over to them and demanded to know what happened, leaving Fred with an extra minute before Hermione was kicked out and he would fall straight asleep.

"Hermione, love, I have absolutely no idea how I did that, and frankly I only know I did it because I'm feeling the effects of it now. George and I haven't been testing anything and we certainly wouldn't try something on game day. If something else happens before Christmas I'll own my parents, if not I'll wait until Christmas and speak to Dad or something, okay? Don't worry about working it out."

"Fred, I - "

"Miss Granger, out!"

"Leaving now, Madame Pomfrey!" Hermione called quietly over to the witch as she tended to the back of Malfoy's head. She turned and grabbed Fred's hand and whispered, "rest up, okay?" before squeezing it once and walking towards the doors. As she closed the large doors behind her he caught her eye, and he could've sworn a small smile was carved onto her face as the door clicked shut quietly behind her.

* * *


	5. Chapter 4: The Letter

A/N: I hope people don't mind Fred and co.'s explicit language, but in my head (and from experience) I know that boys from large families tend to swear to get their point across, and in my head I picture them swearing a lot more than they did in the children's books we've all come to know and love.

Also, some creative timeline liberties have been taken with this chapter! I don't think Hermione arrives at Grimmauld Place on Christmas Eve based on the way J.K. Rowling wrote the once paragraph I gleaned a basic timeline from, but what good is fanfiction if you can't twist and mold your own story? Enjoy!

* * *

Christmas Eve. A time for joy, for celebration, for laughter and cheer. A time spent around close family and friends, drinking spiked eggnog and listening to the crap on the Wireless that their Mum would put on as they teased their younger siblings mercilessly and thought of plans for the new year.

Except for this year.

It wasn't for Fred's lack of trying, though. Merlin himself must've been looking down upon him and blessing him with the energy and Christmas spirit needed to try and keep his family - including Harry - in high morale. They'd spent the entire week getting rid of all the shite that had managed to hang around from their deep cleaning session before school started and had done so with as genuine as possible smiles for their darling mother. They could both tell that she was trying to hide her fear for their Dad from them, so he and George decided to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and clean with reckless abandon without being asked to for the first time in their lives. He'd bet a Galleon he and George were the favourites now (take _that_ , Ronnie!).

It had worked wonders to get their Mum's mind off of everything going on. Any time they'd noticed her getting upset they'd call her over, asking for opinions on colour schemes for Conjured Christmas decorations, advice on where to store random objects that hopefully wouldn't lead to their death when touched, or for help with basic household charms. They'd dealt with the pinched cheeks and compliments gracefully and had given humorous words of comfort whenever she'd returned from visiting their Dad in St. Mungo's. They'd even made sure to randomly run into Harry once or twice when she'd called him down for lunch and he'd refused to come, reassuring her that he was alive and…okay.

Their mum wasn't the only one who'd appreciated the efforts the twins had gone to. He and George had spent the entirety of Christmas Eve helping a boisterous Sirius clean Grimmauld Place, their dreary residence for the Christmas of 1995. As they Transfigured random nasty yet "treasured" family heirlooms into colourful Christmas ornaments and charmed doorhandles to sing carols when touched (only the Weasley children's doorhandles would sing explicit versions of the carols), he and his brother came up with various ideas for a Christmas range of products for next year if they'd established the shop by then. Sirius was coming up with his own great ideas as well, mentioning them in passing as he draped decorations over the portraits he'd covered with festive wrapping paper.

Even hearing Sirius' idea for a charmed beer glass that would repel the liquid away from the drinker's mouth still wasn't enough to cheer Fred up. George was only doing marginally better than him, and he'd pretty much determined by that night that this Christmas was just going to be a bit shite. Their Dad was still in hospital, Harry was blaming himself (and Fred was trying to use rational and serious talks in his head to not blame him himself), Percy was still being a prick, and everyone was just so miserable no matter how hard the two of them tried. The worries of their family were only hidden for moments at a time, especially after their visit to St. Mungo's a few days ago where their Dad let it slip that they were still looking for an antidote for the snake bites. Sirius seemed to be the only constantly cheerful person and while it was a nice change from the gloomy old bugger they'd dealt with during the summer break, it was still hard to maintain the jolly, optimistic façade they'd be trying so hard to keep up.

There was only one reason they were trying so hard to show they were older and wiser. The Order. They were seventeen now, almost eighteen, and they were determined to prove to the rest of the adults that they were ready for the responsibility and duty that joining the Order of the Phoenix would give them. Fred didn't truly believe that he and George had to change, on the contrary, he wholeheartedly maintained that the Order would be expecting more bad days than good, and what better weapon to have than two dashingly handsome blokes who could cheer anyone up? They wouldn't be restricted to the Order too, not like poor old Sirius; no, they could be let loose on the wizarding streets - maybe even Muggle ones, too - and could spread positivity and cheer to those stuck in times of struggle and darkness. Sort of like Patronus inspiration, really. Keep people in high spirits, keep them believing in the good side, keep them from giving up or giving in.

Even if that wasn't what the Order decided they needed, they were still of age and willing to do whatever it took to show they were ready to join. They'd practically begged Sirius and Lupin to speak to their mother but both declined to have that conversation. They took a more mature approach when discussing their options with Mad-Eye, but even then they were told to wait until their schooling was over at the very least. George instantly told the veteran that they'd drop out of school as soon as they were guaranteed a place in the Order, but Mad-Eye had let out a bark of a laugh at that as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world to do. He'd cited their mother then, and a shiver still managed to find a way up his spine as his mind conjured the absolute walloping they'd get if she found out both her twin boys had dropped out.

Not that they weren't thinking about leaving Hogwarts, anyway. With the various Educational Decree's coming out of Toadbridge's ass he and George had been discussing making a break for it. They were definitely going to expand on their mail-order service they'd already established, Harry had already become their financier, they'd been in talks with various printing and stock companies over Britain, it was clearly going to happen. All that was left to do was to find a place to call home for their business. Thanks to the few extra days of holidays they'd gotten from Dumbledore sending them home to be with their family during their crisis, they'd been able to tour various empty buildings under the guise of last-minute Christmas shopping and a select few looked promising.

One such building was in Hogsmeade, but near the Hogs Head and other nefarious businesses. He and George rightfully agreed that students shouldn't be forced to walk past dodgy places to get to their business if they could help it, especially with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back on the prowl. It did have the advantage of being near the school though, which meant more foot traffic on Hogsmeade weekends for Hogwarts plus all the neighbouring wizarding abodes that came with the fully magical town. There was also the competition of Zonko's if they became established in Hogsmeade, but they both decided that it would be an honour and a privilege to have such worthy competition.

Another building was in Diagon Alley, a prime location with a bloody high monthly rent. It would be guaranteed to attract attention if they played their cards right and could also be a place where parents dropped their kids off with their pocket money as they went about their errands. The problem that came with Diagon Alley was that for many months of the year their target audience would be in another country, but their mail-order service was well established and could hopefully be easily transferred. It also had a flat up top, adding to the higher rent but they could move out of the Burrow. He'd actually pitched to George that if they were struggling for Galleons they could rent out the flat itself, but George had seemed worried about the possibility of the store getting broken into by the tenants and after thinking about it for a while he'd agreed.

The last building they were considering was in Muggle London, on the same street as the Leaky Cauldron. While the location wasn't ideal the building itself was four floors tall and absolutely massive, meaning all their ideas in the Laughs Log could be catagorised into different branches and they could set up different floors of the shop for specific brands. There was even a large employees room out the back of the second floor that the Muggle real estate agent said was used as a staff room for the previous establishment that took residence in the building eight years ago. The building needed plenty of repairs, but if they could get the permits and permission from the Ministry to set up shop there, a few all-nighters with their wands would fix the place entirely. That would cost a pretty Knut though, so they were keeping the Muggle building as option three.

They'd sent out a letter to negotiate the price for the shop in Diagon Alley three days ago and hadn' t heard back. If they could knock 50 Galleons off the monthly rent and bills they'd decided they'd sign for it straightaway. No matter what building they chose they were going to be the sole owners of their business, meaning they couldn't be fired by the bosses for not having enough O.W.L's or N.E.W.T's. He'd like to see George try and fire him, honestly. Once they'd put the deposit down they could start developing their shop and making it their own, and he was sure that none of the customers would question their results in school - who did that?

So there he was, Christmas Eve, and absolutely miserable about the near future. Dad in hospital, adopted brother in mental strife, brother estranged from the family, and school nowhere near as fun as it used to be. He and George had just finished decorating the Christmas tree that Mundungus had procured and placed in the basement while Sirius and Lupin tinkered with fitting as many as the Transfigured objects into the room as possible. Ginny, Ron, and Harry were upstairs, and Fred guessed that Harry was isolating himself from his siblings, still beating himself up over things he couldn't really control. Whether he was possessed or under the influence of You-Know-Who he didn't care, he just wanted to make sure his mate was going to be okay. Big ask, considering he was The-Boy-Who-Kept-Living-Through-Everything.

"Wotcher, Fred!" Tonks called as she walked down the very same stairs he'd split apart with the flick of his wrist months ago. Tonks' hair was too yellow to be correctly called blonde and had a fringe that ended between the top of her head and her eyebrows. It was a look he'd never seen on her before, but it framed her face well and made her prominently brown eyebrows the focal point of her features. She held an envelope in her gloved hand, her winter coat still on and dusted with the light snowfall from outside, and she attempted to hand it to George. George took the envelope from her with a winning smile and passed it straight into Fred's hand without looking at his twin. Tonks faltered for a second, then ran her hand through her hair, shaking out the snow that had melted into droplets of water onto the floor.

"Sorry, George, sorry, Fred. One day I'll get you two right way round!" she said with a bright smile and not looking apologetic in the slightest.

"What would be the fun in that?" George asked with a laugh. "What's all this anyway?"

"Dunno," Tonks replied. "Poor owl was beating on the window in the kitchen as I walked in through the front door. By the time I got the window open he was a cross little lad, nearly pecked off my knuckles!"

"It's got the Ministry logo on it, maybe it's-"

"-from the Department of Magical-"

"-shhhh!" George hissed as he tilted his head close to Fred. "Don't need everyone knowing, do we?"

Tonks looked at the twins suspiciously and they grinned nonchalantly back. She shook her head and muttered something that distinctly sounded like "troublemakers", but made her way over to greet Lupin and Sirius as she removed her coat. The twins ran up the stairs two at a time, and continued to make their way up the staircases until they reached the landing for their bedroom.

Slightly out of breath, they quickly began their routine for all things Shop. George pointed his wand at the door and cast various charms to make sure it was locked, sealed, and silenced; Fred used this time to ensure the small window in the room was shut and pulled out the meager spare trunk they used to store as much as possible in. Bless their luck, Lee's parents weren't too judgmental of his attitude towards school as he got decent grades and allowed him to use their garage to store some of their inventory for the mail-order service during holidays. This meant they didn't need to cart everything around or risk something going wrong with the stock when it was shrunk, and all they had to carry around were various documents, contracts, and the bits and pieces they needed access to instantly.

They sat on their respective beds, feet planted firmly on the floor and hunched over to look at the envelope. Just as Fred was about to rip the top open George grabbed his arm top stop him.

"Why is it addressed to you?"

"Huh?" Fred said with an air of impatience. This letter could be the start of something massive! A Christmas miracle! "I don't know, because I wrote to Mr. Jylen about the rent?"

"No, _we_ did. But I signed it and sent it off under my name, remember? He seemed to like me more after you, well, tried to show him how good our business would be."

"How was I supposed to know he was afraid of chickens?" Fred asked incredulously, recalling the fake wand he'd given the potential landlord and the shriek of horror the man let out when it transformed into the rubber animal. "Stupid thing to be afraid of, really."

"And that's not even the right emble!" George said, pointing to the top right of the thick envelope as if he hadn't heard a thing Fred said. Fred brought the envelope slightly closer to him and looked carefully. It wasn't the right emblem for the Department of Magical Buildings, Construction, and Development, and it was in fact missing the picture of the imposing building in the centre of the crest. The insignia on the envelope was a lackluster M with the Latin motto of the Ministry around it, not giving any clues as to which Department it came from.

"Can I just open it?" Fred asked with a hint of impatience.

George looked at him for a moment. "Have you been doing things you shouldn't be doing?"

"Always." replied Fred with sincerity. "But always with you, or with your knowledge. I have no idea what this is, so let's find out, yeah?"

George leant back, removing his elbows from where they were perched on his knees and gestured carelessly for him to open it. Anticipatory excitement in the form of adrenaline took over his hands as he ripped the left side of the envelope with more force than strictly necessary and unfolded the thick parchment.

He read the letter, eyes darting back and forth trying to make sense of the message. He made it to the bottom of the parchment, then looked up at George who was waiting expectantly.

"Well?" George asked with eyebrows slightly raised in question. "What is it?"

"This could be one of your most brilliant jokes yet, Forge. I'm impressed!"

George's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth puckered most unattractively. "What are you on about?"

"You're an idiot, but you nearly got me until I got to the end. It's a good trick though, leaving the name until the end. Wouldn't have believed ya otherwise." Fred said, eyes flicking over the neat script as he smiled. They'd make a fortune out of letters like these, and they'd be perfect for Valentine's Day.

"That's not from me, mate." George said with uncertainty. "Can I read it?"

George reached out for the parchment but Fred pulled it to his chest quickly, not letting his brother see. "How much did you pay Katie to write it? The writing's too neat to be your troll-like mess."

"Fred, I don't know what you're on about, I swear."

"Come off it!" Fred laughed. "Damn, I was hoping we'd hear back from Mr. Jylen before Christmas too. Got my hopes up for nothing, you git!"

"Fred," George insisted, and the tone of his voice nearly wiped the smile from Fred's face. "I really don't know what it is. Who's it from?"

"Jokes over, Georgie, but it was good, I'll tell you that. But why would the Love Chamber be sending me a letter?"

"The _Love Chamber?_ " George asked with disbelief. "You got an owl from the _Love Chamber_ , where the Unspeakables work?"

"Oh, come off it!" Fred said again, but he couldn't get it to sound as lively and carefree as a moment ago. "You organised this, didn't you?"

George shook his head with wide eyes, and if it wasn't for the nagging feeling that George wouldn't hold out on him for so long he would've laughed at his expression.

George's hand reached out for the letter but Fred was too busy re-reading the thick parchment to notice.

_Mr._ _Frederick Gideon Weasley, resident of "The Burrow", Devon, England;_

_This is a formal Letter of Notice to make you aware of the Link that has been found to exist between your magic and another witch or wizard. Please read through the information in this Letter of Notice carefully before citing the name given at the end._

_This Letter has been transcribed due to information that has come to the attention of Unspeakables within the Love Chamber, a subsection of the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry of Magic._

_Please be advised that while the information has been written to you and sent via an Unspeakable, the magic that Links you to you and your Linked witch or wizard was not conducted by any magical person or being. No Unspeakable, Ministry employee, magical entity or known magic can form Links; the Department of Mysteries is simply made aware of them though highly classified forms of research._

_This Letter of Notice seeks to inform you that you mustparticipate in either a Bonding or Splitting Ceremony with your Linked witch or wizard before the last day of 1999. Again, please be advised that any Unspeakable, Ministry employee, magical entity or known magic can decide the aforementioned date set, it is only presented to Unspeakables working within the Love Chamber though highly classified methods._

_Please also note that any Bonding or Splitting Ceremonycannotbe conducted if any witch or wizard is under the age of seventeen. If the witch or wizard you have been Linked to is under the age of seventeen, they will not receive their Letter of Notice until they are of age. Evidence throughout Linked Magic history shows that their Letter of Notice may not be sent to them straightaway, however a firm date of Letter delivery cannot be confirmed. This is not under the control of the Unspeakables within the Department of Mysteries but rather the magic held within it. If you have contact with your Linked witch or wizard, you may choose to inform them without any known ill consequences._

_For more information on Linked Magic, Bonding Ceremonies, Splitting Ceremonies, or being Bonded, please refer to the list of textbooks at the end of this Letter of Notice. All textbooks have been validated by highly trained and knowledgeable Unspeakables._

_To book a Bonding or Splitting Ceremony, please address an inquiry letter with your preferred dates and times to:_

_Ministry of Magic,_

_Department of Mysteries;_

_Chamber 7_

_with any preferred owl._

_Regards;_

_Tyrion Talsmen_

_Love Chamber, Department of Mysteries_

_Ministry of Magic._

_Your Magic has been found to be Linked to:_

_Hermione Jean Granger_

_Available textbooks for more information:_

_\- Linked Throughout Time: Historical Recounts of Bonded Magic_

_\- Bonded Brethren_

_\- Magical Matches: The Truth in Harmless Fiction_

_\- Splitting Magicks: The Failed Attempts and Disastrous Results_

_\- Partners in the Present_

_\- Linked Magic: A History_

Fred could feel himself growing pale as he began to comprehend that the parchment in his hands was Not A Prank. His brow furrowed tightly as he read the letter once more, and by the time he got to the list of textbooks he practically threw the parchment at George to hide the fact that his hands were starting to shake.

Linked Magic is what Ginny used to rave on and on and on about as a kid. Ron used to complain once a week that Ginny had chosen some disgustingly romantic picture book for their night-time story and he'd beg their Mum to let him listen to their bedtime story, most often a comic or a Quidditch book. Hell, he came from a massive Pureblood line, and though it didn't make him count his blessings every morning like Malfoy must, he was absolutely sure that no-one in his family had been Linked to someone in the past 200 years, otherwise Ginny would've had a field day with the information.

How could _he_ be Linked to someone, _him_? He had a twin for Merlin's sake, a fucking _twin!_ A twin he didn't even need to look at to know exactly what he was thinking and how he'd gotten to that conclusion! It had to be a mistake, surely, or a very well done prank against the both of them, because there was no way in Merlin's rumoured third nipple that he was Linked to anyone, let alone-

Shite.

It pretty much confirmed it was a prank, actually. Hermione Jean Granger's name sealed the deal for him. Couldn't be real, not in a million years. He'd bet all his magic on it. He wanted to shake hands with this mysterious Tyrion Talsmen - although he doubted it was a real person - for making him believe the letter as well as he did. Maybe when they opened the shop they could invite him to work on production and ideas for them, considering that was one of the best things he'd read.

Hermione Jean Granger, come on, really? He didn't think Harry or Ron would drag Hermione into something like this, so it must've been Lee who had done it, or Ange or Katie or Alicia. Or all four of them, or a combination of the four of them. Only they would know the chaos it would send the Weasley's into if they knew little Ronnie's not-yet girlfriend was actually made for someone else. He snorted mentally at that. Made for someone else, what a joke. People weren't made for each other in his opinion, but they could definitely build up strong relationships and stand the test of time. Same as love at first sight; it was a load of bollocks, but hard-hitting attraction was a real thing. You couldn't truly fall in love with someone just by looking at them once.

George had evidently finished reading the letter as Fred's mind raced a lap of the Quidditch pitch a minute, and they stared at each other for a moment, both unsure of what to say.

"Are you sure-"

"I didn't write it!"

"No need to get testy!" Fred replied at his twin's maddened tone. "Just wanted to make sure!"

"I'm bloody sure!" George said with heat in his voice.

"Alright then!"

They sat in silence for a moment longer before George handed him the letter wordlessly. Fred's eyes immediate went to the end of the letter, looking at Hermione's name as if might've changed as he read it. He ran a hand through his hair, rustling it with frustration and confusion.

George was the first to speak after minutes of silence. "Have you pissed anyone off recently?"

"Not that I can recall, no."

"Anyone that would drag Granger into it?"

"I was just thinking that a minute ago" Fred said with a small smile that faded quickly. What the fuck was going on?

"If this is real," George said slowly, as if weighing their options as he spoke. "I can think of about six different people that are going to be utterly furious with us."

"But we didn't plan this, _I_ didn't plan this!"

"I know, mate!" George said consolingly as Fred placed his head in his hands and leant forward on his knees. "But that's not how Ron's gonna see it, is it?"

"Course not," he said with a humourless chuckle. "He'll rip my fucking throat out if it's not a joke."

His twin hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly again. "I…this might not be a joke, Gred."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Well," George sighed heavily, "I have no sodding clue about Linked Magic or being Bonded or anything, because, why would I? But we never came up with an explanation for the staircase."

Fred moaned as he pushed the fleshy part of his hands into his eyes, as if trying to block out the memory of the Prefect Party from his mind's eye. He and George had run up the stairs straight after the guests had left and everyone had gone to bed and stayed up for hours discussing how he'd done it. George witnessed the entire thing and claimed to have seen nothing resembling come out of his hand when he'd held it up, but _did_ claim that it looked like something had disturbed the air where a spell's stream would've been if he'd used one. They'd both not had a clue how he'd done it that night or the many times they'd randomly brought it up afterwards, but they both wanted to know how he'd done it to harness it for their inventions.

"Or Malfoy," Fred added without conviction as he thought hard. They'd gone back to their dorm as soon as Fred was released from the Hospital Wing after the match a month ago and had a very similar conversation. Granted, there had been a lot more laughter because the Fantastical Ferret got hurt, but they were still no closer to understanding the random bursts of strange magic he had been able to use. No amount of recreation or focus could prompt his body to produce the, well, whatever it was again, but it certainly wasn't for lack of trying.

But now…now they might have an answer, and it written on the parchment that he was holding precariously in his fingers as he held his head in his hands. He sat up immediately at the thought and smoothed the parchment between his hand and thigh.

"Fucking sodding hell…" Fred muttered under his breath as he continued to think. Both times she had been there, both times they had been touching as it happened.

"Yeah, that sums it up well" George agreed with a faltering grin.

They lapsed back into silence, and after a few moments of them both stuck in their own thoughts the portrait of Mrs. Black starting to howl as soon as the doorbell rang. Thankful for the distraction, both of them jumped up and rushed for the door, George leading the way as soon as Fred had put the small trunk with their documents away.

The twins made their way down the staircase in a rush, both hoping silently that whoever it was would offer some distraction to the letter that would take a while to settle in. Mundungus would be a good distraction, especially if he'd brought the Class B goods to play around with. Not that they could use them in their products, but if they could recreate the effects of the illegal ingredients…

"Quickly, dear, come on in," Fred heard his mother say as Sirius set the howling portrait right again. Fred overtook his brother and managed to round the corner just before George could, but it only led to George running straight into Fred's back and toppling them both over right in front of their Mum and their freshly arrived guest.

"Honestly, you two! There's always something going on!" Mrs. Weasley cried over the renewed shrieks of Walburga Black as Sirius argued back while drawing the curtains again.

"Sorry, Mum, won't happen again," George recovered smoothly as he pushed himself up against the ground. He held out a hand to his brother, who held on firmly and pulled himself back into a standing position.

"Hello, George, Fred." Hermione said as she nodded at each of them from inside the doorway with a whisper, obviously not wanting to disturb the portrait again. "You alright?"

"Never better!" George said brightly, clapping Fred on the shoulder twice.

"Yep, that's us alright!"

Fred's voice lacked the casual brightness of George's, but who could blame him? Not half an hour ago he'd been sent a letter (that he was about ninety-nine percent sure was not a joke anymore) telling him that the strange occurrences in his recent life had been because of _her._ Well, not _because_ of _her_ specifically, but…he couldn't think of a better way to phrase it in his own head. And now he was apparently Linked to her somehow, and he had to hold a conversation with the witch as if nothing potentially life-changing had just been revealed to him?

If he was being honest with himself, he knew diddily-squat about Linked Magic. Ginny's bedtime stories were probably all rubbish, and how suss would it look asking people about it all of a sudden? He'd have to steer clear of asking Tonks, that was for sure. The Auror would have connections in the Ministry from her line of work and he really didn't need the information getting out if it wasn't all a joke (as he was still praying in his head it was one). There was no-one he could really think of to ask, it was an obscure branch of magic. More like a twig, actually.

"'Course, Mum. C'mon, George." George said as he snapped Fred out of his thoughts by bumping into him gently yet deliberately.

"Y'what?" Fred asked in a daze.

"Into Ginny's room. Are you alright, George?" Mrs. Weasley questioned as she looked at Fred intently.

"That's Fred - you are Fred, aren't you?" Hermione asked as she looked to Fred too. Too many eyes were on him - two particular ones, mainly - and he wanted to bolt to his room, seal the door, and pace until the world was the right way around again.

George shoved the smaller of Hermione's bags into Fred's limp hands, forcing Fred to hold onto it as he grabbed her trunk. He winked at Hermione, saying "wouldn't you like to know?" as he strolled past them.

Fred, determined not to be left alone with Hermione yet, followed his brother immediately. He noted that he'd been almost completely silent during the exchange but could not think of a single thing to say that wouldn't make him unravel from the inside out. The Letter of Notice was running through his head, random words in their neat writing popping into his head nearly as often as his foot hit a step on the staircases. He forced himself to listen to the conversation George was graciously holding with Hermione.

"Yes, well, there's more important things in the world, isn't there? I'll have more Christmases with my parents but Harry seems to need a wake-up call. I'm honestly not surprised." Hermione revealed with a sad smile as she watched her feet move up the stairs. "He doesn't do well with being left out of important decisions or not knowing what's going on in his life. Ron's letters make it sound like he's blaming himself for what happened to your Dad…I'm sorry, by the way. I'm glad to hear he's getting better."

Both twins nodded at her appreciatively, and she continued. "Anyway, I'm sure I can at least manage to get him talking and eating, even if I have to keep nagging him. Once he's sleeping better and eating he'll come around. I just wish he didn't have to…"

She trailed off as they reached Ginny's temporary bedroom. She reached out a hand to open the door, but didn't twist the handle. "Thank you for carrying my bags up. I'm surprise you didn't charm them to float behind you."

"Us? Use unnecessary magic? Who do you think we are?" George said with mock surprise. Fred tried to match his twin's beam, but the flash of concern in Hermione's eyes made him well aware that he was failing. Recovering, she rolled her eyes in amusement to George's statement and proceeded to open the door.

Cries of happiness erupted from his two youngest siblings and Hermione was quickly sandwiched in a group hug. George carried her trunk to the neater of the two beds and motioned for Fred to put the smaller bag on top. Breaking his stare at Hermione he quickly dropped the bag on top of the trunk and headed for the door.

Ginny called out to him and George but he was moving too quickly and stuck in his own mind to comprehend his sister. George called something behind him as he followed Fred up the stairs to their shared bedroom. By the time he was firmly inside the room and George had shut the door he genuinely feared he was going to collapse with the emotions running through him.

"Breathe, Freddie, just breathe." George encouraged as he stood watch of Fred's pacing.

"This isn't a joke, is it? The Letter is real." Fred all but asked as he paused his pacing to look at George.

George frowned at the ground for a moment before turning around and silencing the door with his wand he grabbed from his back pocket. "I don't know; I mean, I don't think so, because it sorta makes sense, yeah? The stairs, the match, we both can't explain it."

"So what do I do?" He didn't mean to let the desperation slip into his voice, but it was starting to take over him.

"Just leave it for now, yeah? You can't do anything for the moment so just sit on it."

"What d'you mean?"

"She's just turned sixteen this past October -"

"September, innit?" Fred interrupted.

"Something like that, but that's semantics at the moment. The Letter said you can't do anything until she's seventeen at least, so she won't find out by herself until then. I don't think this is something you can rush into this time, Gred." George said with a rueful smile.

Fred collapsed onto the nearest bed with a groan. He ran his hand through his bright hair with his eyes scrunched up, hoping that he'd wake from the failed Daydream Charm they'd been trying to master in some other reality. "It seems right to tell her though, doesn't it? Give her a heads up?"

"Maybe not on the exact day you find out." George said intelligently. Fred cracked his eyes open and looked at his brother. He was sitting on the opposite bed, staring at him. "After Christmas we can go visit Flourish and Blotts and see if they've got any of those textbooks in the Letter, alright? Let's just make it through Christmas first."

"Let's make sure it's _real_ first." Fred added with uncertainty, his mind flashing back to his dance with Hermione before he split the staircase.

"That too. Make sure it's real, research it, consider it, then talk to Hermione about it." George said as he listed each point on a separate finger. "Sound good?"

"Sounds brilliant." Fred said sarcastically.

"Oi! This isn't my fault!"

"I know, it's just…shite Christmas this year, isn't it?"

George stared at the floor for a few seconds before speaking. "He's gonna be okay, we know that."

"Yeah." Fred agreed, staring at the ceiling above and wishing that the Christmas holiday could be as simple as one from his childhood. "Everything will be okay."

A/N: This chapter sure was fun to write, and now we all have a bit of information about what's going on with poor Freddie. _Please_ let me know what you think, it really means a lot and lets me know if the direction I'm going in is actually interesting!


	6. Chapter 5: The Duel

Fred had returned to school in much higher spirits than when he had left early for the Christmas break. Overall the holiday hadn't been too shabby; their Dad had returned home very early Christmas morning which led to a very jolly Grimmauld Place, he and George had finally recreated the potion they'd accidentally invented over the summer that temporarily changed the consumer's vocal folds and allowed them to sing with a different voice (and remembered to write down the method this time), and the only letter they'd received after Christmas Eve was the one telling them their negotiations for 93 Diagon Alley was successful. All that was left was to visit the Department of Magical Buildings, Construction, and Development and sign the contract - which they did as soon as the office was open the next day. All in all, a fairly successful Christmas break for he and George.

Except for Granger.

For once in his nearly eighteen years of life he was completely stumped. The panic and shock from Christmas Eve had transformed itself slowly into a feeling of, well, overwhelming panic but lessening shock. The feeling didn't sit well with his carefree and general inquisitive nature but there was barely anything he could do without Hermione's knowledge, and even that thought popping into his head (which it did regularly) sent his mind barrelling down into dangerous territories.

He was not a religious person in the slightest but that didn't stop him from sending every deity he could think of his unrelenting thanks for his twin. George had been a rock over the past few weeks, keeping him sane and collected when his thoughts turned into slightly horrific daydreams in which no matter what he said, Ron would beat him into a pulp whenever he'd find out. Normally the thought of Ron getting the upper hand in a brotherly tussle would amuse him to no end, but he'd got Hermione _perfume_ for Christmas, and if that wasn't a sign that his little brother was head over tit for the witch he'd eat his sock.

George was always game to discuss random possibilities that would spark in Fred's mind as well. The rest of the break had involved the two of them flicking through the Laughs Log for products to introduce on their first day of brick and mortar business, but his mind would naturally wander to different scenarios. Fred would voice his concerns and George would be a steadfast voice of reason, but this left Fred with even further mixed feelings.

He'd asked, for example, about what would happen if Hermione got her Letter and completely shut him down. George simply said "well, that would be that then, wouldn't it?" and continued stirring the base ingredients for their Nosebleed Nougat over the cauldron. He'd then countered and asked the opposite, what if she wanted to Bond straightaway without thinking about it? George had stopped stirring and looked up at him with a deadpan expression then, leaving Fred feeling like a git. Of course Hermione would think about every single possibility, and probably would until the end of 1999 when she was forced to make a choice.

He'd even pestered George to tell him what he thought the rest of the family would say when they found out. He found comfort in George's opinion that everyone -bar Ron, of course - would not have a problem with it. George's guess on Harry's opinion was hesitant but he decided that if Hermione made the choice to Bond with Fred, then Harry would support his best friend with the devotion and loyalty he was known for.

The questioning only quelled some of the craziness inside of him and he was glad that school was back - what was left of normal Hogwarts, anyway. Umbridge was still there and destroying everything he loved about the school, and he could tell that many others felt the resentfulness that he and George felt as more Educational Decrees were plastered on the wall. They had a backup plan in their new shop now that they'd signed the lease for the building at least, so Hogwarts didn't have to be home for much longer if things continued the way they were going.

Leaving school for good would also guarantee that he wouldn't have to avoid Granger anymore. Not that he really had to go out of his way to do it per se, but every time he'd enter the Common Room and she was on the couches with Ron and Harry or studying with Ginny he had an overwhelming urge to escape lest she somehow find out by looking at him.

He supposed the feeling came from not knowing what he wanted. He'd only had the Letter of Notice for three weeks and that was hardly enough time to make a life-changing decision, was it? And life changing it would be according to _Linked Magic: A History_ , which had been the only available book from the list available at Flourish and Blotts during the Christmas break. Even though his Letter told him the text had been deemed valid by Unspeakables familiar with the rare magic, the fact that many of the partners were referred to as a "Bonded of Ilkley" or whatever towns they'd been from made him distrust the information slightly. The writing of those with actual names made him marginally more optimistic that the information was factual, but it still wasn't enough to ease his mind.

One thing he had picked up from the textbook was that only four of the twenty-seven pairs felt anything between them before becoming Bonded. The text described 'felt' as "the most peculiar sensation that one's mind and soul was wrapped around their own", but this didn't mean anything to him. The book did list what magical abilities the partnership seemed to pick up on once they'd Bonded, but many couples had the exact same things as the others; a need to be around the other after extended periods of time away, a connection to each other's emotions or intuition, positive reactions to touching, and a whole bunch of other useless junk.

It was the couples that had shown actual magical ability that interested Fred the most, and he'd skimmed over each chapter and dog-eared the ones that had historical recollections of the magic they could display. Of the twenty-seven chapters in the book only nine met this criteria, and he deemed only four to be of true use to him. One couple that didn't make the cut was in the second chapter, a pair from the year 768 whose tale was brief and not properly documented well enough for Fred to trust. Another other couple had apparently just met the threshold for being Linked and didn't display much heightened ability consistently, however there were documented rumours that Cornelius Crumplequest had made his partner Maurina Crumplequest fly out of the way of an incoming hoard of Grindylows.

The four that he believed would be of use to him were those that had strong Links and demonstrated effects of being Bonded before an official ceremony took place. Three of the four couples knew each other and had some form of personal relationship before they knew of their Link, and the couple that had not met knew of each other through mutual relationships. Two of the couples had been less than twenty when they received their Letters, and the other two had been under fifty. All four of the couples had documented and photographed evidence of their Linked Magic, and this was the part that excited Fred the most.

One couple from America, the Yumen's, had both managed to transform into parakeets and escaped a muggle gang in the early 1920's when they were trying to rob them. They escaped without harm but did not have the ability to birds again until under duress in the 1940's. The couple had been separated through the husband's natural death two years before Fred was born. The book stated that the woman was still alive when published in 1981 but Fred wasn't sure if the information was still correct. He wondered if people lived for a long time without their Bonded partners and vowed to find the information once he got a hold on the other books.

Another couple, the Craggs of Chudleigh, were nearly sentenced to life in Azkaban in 1702 for violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy when they killed three Muggles who had beaten down the door to their home. The invasion had scared Carilda Cragg and she was later accused of casting an unknown spell at the intruders. Her partner, Elmmore, had Apparated directly into the home as soon as he'd felt Carilda's fear and was nearly killed by Carilda himself. The jury in the case had to admit that no unaccounted spell could be found that matched the method of murder and didn't register from her wand, and acquitted the couple based on Elmmore's injuries from his wife that matched her description of her fear. The couple Bonded in 1703 and lived together for another 163 years, an age unheard of at the time even for magical people.

Arirella and Augustus Anelline were both the youngest couple in the book and the youngest couple to get their Letters. Augustus had been twenty-three when he received his letter, and was twenty-seven by the time Arirella received hers at the same age. This couple were the ones who knew each other through mutual friends and had never met prior to their Letters of Notice. Augustus had not tried to get in contact with Arirella before she received her letter, but both of them completed the Bonding ceremony in an effort to nurse a mutual relationship into good health. Augustus knew the dying man from childhood, while Arirella's cousin was his fiancé. While Healers predicted that the man would be deceased within the year, contact with Augustus and Arirella kept him healthier than Healer's predicted, and when they Bonded after six months of knowing they were Linked, the man managed to survive for another five or so years before succumbing to his mysterious illness after exposure to the couple daily throughout that time.

The last couple Fred found worthy of extra study were the Piré's. Darelon and Judell Piré of Northern Italy managed to protect their small town from a volcanic eruption in the late 1880's. Muggle eyewitness testimonies recalled seeing a pale dome surrounding their town that was not penetrated by any ash or smoke, and there were no reported casualties. The nearby towns were decimated with few survivors. The men completed their Bonding ceremony in 1891 and repeated their incredible feat in 1919, but had to flee the area when they were accused of being both angels sent from a Muggle god or dangerous creatures out to kill those who defied them. Both men claimed that the first time they protected their town they didn't know how they did it, however after their Bonding ceremony they could control their magic better.

Hazy pictures of the dome were available in the book but they lacked the movement of wizarding pictures. Fred could just barely make out the dome in the colourised picture, and it looked remarkably like what George had described as coming out of his hand when he broke the staircase except more visible.

Fred thought it was a shame that none of the twenty-seven couples within the text were at school or at least under the legal age when they received their Letters, but the four couples he studied gave him plenty of information to keep him thinking. Most couples didn't exhibit signs of Bonded Magic before completing the ceremony, but some did and that was enough for Fred to regain some of his confidence. He was Linked to Hermione Granger's magic, of course they'd have something extra up their sleeves. Each person in the text seemed to be a talented witch or wizard, but together their combined magic was stronger than any one person could possess without dabbling in Dark Arts.

And that was another thing. Each Bonded or Linked couple were definitely "couples". Of the twenty-seven in the book, nineteen of them had a marriage year listed, and another two simply didn't have enough firsthand information to determine one. The rest were married in every sense of the word bar a ceremony and certificate. That was definitely worrying for him. He'd never considered Granger in a romantic light, apart from a few seconds before the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin where she deviously kissed his cheek. Even then, the thought was laughable. He and Granger would never get along, not in a million years.

But it seemed that every couple that had gone through the Bonding process fell in love. They got married, they had kids, they lived their lives together without looking at anyone else. He couldn't imagine settling down with anyone permanently at twenty years old, let alone seventeen or eighteen; it was ridiculous! He was already a business owner and soon he'd have his own store with his brother - which bird wouldn't be charmed out of their knickers by that? He had absolutely no idea what Hermione would think of that fact, but he tried not to care too much. There were plenty of birds out there if she wanted a Splitting Ceremony when she found out, and maybe he could chase down that pretty Muggle girl from the paper shop in Ottery St. Catchpole. She was bound to be impressed, wasn't she?

The Muggle wasn't the one that was making him yawn, though. That crown was sitting on top of Hermione Granger in his mind, the witch that was keeping Fred up most nights as he pondered over so many things he thought his head would explode. She was the one distracting him in classes, when completing his homework, hell, even when he was showering! So many different varieties of what she might possibly say when she found out she was Linked to him, so many different possibilities of what she would do if he was the one to tell her.

He wanted to say bugger it all and book a Splitting Ceremony to ease his thoughts. It would certainly make the rest of the schoolyear easier on his guilt-riddled conscience and help his exams (that he didn't care too much about) and setting up shop (which he cared deeply about). He wouldn't have to worry about Hermione getting her Letter then, wouldn't have to worry about his brother or Harry or anyone else that was interested in Hermione. Hopefully he'd stop having weird dreams about her, too. Dreams where he was sitting in the Common Room and studying alongside her for their upcoming exams were not nearly as thrilling or adventurous as his dreams tended to be.

But as he walked alongside George down the seventh floor corridor he felt ashamed of himself. Who was Fred Weasley if he wasn't chasing down something that seemed completely out of reach? Where was the sense of fun, the rush of being able to say he'd done something incredible without the hint of a lie? What if he - or he and Hermione - managed to do something so fucking fantastically incredible that there wasn't a child born into their world that didn't know their names?

"Who's pacing tonight, you or me?" George asked, breaking Fred free of his increasingly boisterous daydreams.

"Me," Fred offered. George nodded and leaned against the nearby wall, making sure no one was coming before jerking his head towards the abandoned corridor.

Fred set off at once, pacing back and forth as trolls learnt ballet in the tapestry next to him.

_We need to access the D.A's training room._

_We need to access the D.A's training room._

_I need to talk to Hermione._

_We need to access the D.A's training room._

A door appeared to Fred's left and his eyes darted down each end of the corridor. Thankfully they had not been caught in the minute or so it too to get the door to appear and they slipped into the room as quietly as possible.

As soon as the door was firmly shut behind them with a loud clank cheers were shouted across the room. As decided by the coins Hermione modified to give them dates and times of the meetings he and George were some of the last to arrive this time. Fred nearly forgot all about Hermione as Lee pulled up an extra bean bag between himself and Angelina while George made himself comfortable next to Katie. He threw himself into the comfortable blob with careless grace and rested an arm across the back of Ange's seat as he listened to the conversations around him.

"-and then he jumps from his broom and starts screaming and carrying on like a lunatic, and we're all pissing ourselves as he runs around swearing he's got some sort of snake biting his leg, and this one-" Lee said as he thrusted a thumb towards Fred, "-called out that it must've been a trouser snake!"

"Mate, what on Merlin's magical Earth are you on about?" Fred asked with sincere confusion.

"He's recounting the dream he had for us last night," Alicia said with mild contempt in her voice. "Apparently, Lee's subconscious has a thing for Montague."

"Oi!" Lee shouted abruptly as the group laughed at Alicia's comment. "It wasn't me talking about what was in his trousers, it was this tosser!"

"I'm not getting involved in your filthy mind, Jordan." Fred laughed as Lee punched him in the arm.

A clearing of a throat and a few calls for attention got the cheerful group to settle down enough to hear their almighty teachers.

"Alright then, everyone!" Harry called loud enough to ensure complete silence. He had that effect on the group; a few months of meetings and student-assigned homework did little to damper the slight thrill of having The Boy-Who-Lived teach them some decent Defence.

"I hope your holidays were relaxing, but we need to make sure we're focused now. Because most of us can't use magic outside of Hogwarts, I thought we could use this lesson to practice everything we've been doing so far. From what I've seen everyone seems to be doing well and keeping on track with the new spells and jinxes, but we can't see any harm in a full session of revision." Harry's eyes flicked towards Hermione's and she nodded to the group. Obviously it had been her idea, but there were mutters of excitement from the gathering.

"We'll start off with age pairings for now, then we'll see how we go after a break in ten minutes. I know pairing by age isn't realistic, but it's a warm-up, yeah? Before you find a partner!" - Harry called over the growing chatter and requests for partners - "Remember, no aiming for heads, keep it clean, and Shield Charms should be second nature by now!"

Fred didn't bother to look at George as he moved around the flock of people looking for partners. He relocated to an empty space in the large room and waited for George to finish preening before bowing dramatically at his twin. George bowed back with a wink thrown towards Katie, who was paired with Angelina. While George was busy grinning at the girls who were rolling their eyes at each other, Fred threw up a Shield Charm around himself nonverbally.

"Tosser!" George called out as Fred finished waving his wand around his body. Fred threw up two fingers towards his brother and quickly cast a Jelly-Legs Jinx in his direction. The jinx - both easy to cast in movement and without a word - hit George straight in his left leg.

George performed the counter within seconds and cast his own spell towards Fred a moment later. Fred's shield didn't budge as he sidestepped easily and sent a relatively simple curse towards his brother, who fell backwards from the knee up while his feet and shins remained upright.

"Oi!" George called from the ground as laughter rebounded around the room. People had stopped what they were doing to see the effect of Fred's Sponge-Knee curse on his twin, distracted from their own duels by Lee and Fred's ringing laughter.

Fred suddenly staggered a few steps backward as a streak of red smacked into his shield. He spun around in the direction of the spell's path with his wand outstretched and body in a defensive stance.

"I know we're all safe in here," Harry called out to the crowd as the laughter died instantly. "But there's no reason to never be fully on your guard. If Fred hadn't had a Shield Charm already cast on him I would bet a lot of gold that he'd be across the room right about now. Focusing on yourselves to save yourselves, people!"

As Harry got everyone back on task Hermione had quietly fixed George's knees with the counter-curse and offered her hand to pull him up. George accepted with a smile and used her to pull himself to his feet. Fred looked away from the two of them before Hermione or George caught him staring.

The terrible thing about having a twin, he pondered as he cast another wordless _Protego_ around himself to keep busy, was that images he was desperately trying to keep out of his head could become engraved into his memory just by watching his brother live his life. George had no self-imposed restrictions for talking to Hermione; no, he was more than free to keep chatting with her and trying to catch his eye. His gaze moved from duelling group to duelling group as Hermione laughed quietly at something George said, blatantly refusing to meet George's eye as he felt his brother's stare as he continued to talk to her, Hermione thankfully not picking up on George's behaviour.

By the blessings of the gods Ron finally approached the duo and spoke to them. George let go of Hermione's shoulder (when did he start holding onto her?) and allowed her to follow Ron with a jovial wave. Hermione rolled her eyes and caught up with Ron and his long strides, and the pair of them together and untroubled by moral decisions or lifelong commitments sent via owl was enough to send his stomach dropping lower than his feet from guilty remorse.

He really had to work out what he was going to do about her.

He watched as Hermione stopped walking abruptly and turned on her heel after a moment, freezing as she looked around the room. Her eyes looked toward George who was watching Katie and Angelina duel nearby and hadn't noticed her stop. Her eyes continued around the room and Fred felt a sense of foreboding about her meeting his eye.

He tried to look away, he really did, but it was no use. She was looking straight at him with brows furrowed in confusion. She cocked her head slightly as if he was a terribly difficult Arithmetic problem on a blackboard at the start of class. Ron had obviously noticed Hermione was missing from behind him and double back on his steps, meeting her where she was still standing motionless and touching her shoulder gently. She jumped and looked at Ron in shock before muttering something and looking back to Fred.

Before Ron could see what (who) she'd been staring at Fred was again pushed back by a slash of red. He shot back whatever spell had jumped out of his bank of spells without thought and heard George dodge by dropping and rolling out of its path.

His eyes darted to Hermione again, who was now holding her stomach lightly with a slightly pained hunch to her shoulders but letting Ron lead her to the other end of the room where they had been practicing earlier. He made a valiant effort to redirect his energy back to George, and after a few quick spells fired and dodged from each twin he felt himself start to relax again. He didn't dare look at Hermione again for fear of losing his steadfast focus - George was putting up enough of a fight to keep him distracted anyway. He'd check up on her later and make sure George hadn't done anything in their short conversation to make her feel unwell.

A shrill whistling reverberated around the room. "Alright, finish up!" Harry called from the centre of the room as spells flew between duelling pairs around him. He ducked instinctively as a spell whizzed through the space his head used to be, and a very timid looking Justin Finch-Fletchley gave an uneasy grin of apology.

Fred and George regrouped with threatening waves of their wands towards each other, then slapped each other on the back good-naturedly before turning to their leader.

"That was good! That was really, really well done guys, good to see you haven't forgotten everything over the break." Harry's smile was genuine as he looked around the room as people beamed back at him. Ron, standing slightly back from Harry, bumped into Hermione's arm gently with his and nodded towards Chang. Both Hermione and Fred looked over to her from opposite ends of the room and saw a slightly blushing Chang tuck her shiny black hair behind her ear as she looked at the ground.

Fred's gaze made its way back to Hermione idly and he watched as she reluctantly let a smirk grace her lips. Ron's smile exploded into a broad grin as Hermione rolled her eyes and looked pointedly back to Harry, who Fred realised belatedly had continued talking while he was distracted by his younger brother.

"Sound good? I'll make my way around the room and keep watch to keep numbers even, but we might even consider adding a third person into a duel soon, what do you think?" Harry turned and looked to Hermione for approval, and she gave a shrug and nod of approval. "Alright then, team up! Someone new, if you can!"

"C'mon," George said enthusiastically as the room broke into conversation and movement. Fred had no choice but to follow his twin as George had grabbed his forearm and was practically dragging him across the room.

"What're you doing?" Fred said gruffly as he fought to break free of George's surprisingly firm grip. "I can walk, y'know!"

"I know, I know, but I also know you'd run straight to Lee or Angie, and you heard Mr. Potter - well, no, you didn't you were too busy staring at -"

" _No_ " Fred said with as much dignity in his voice as he could muster as he fought against his brother. "She's -"

"Gonna push your shit in? I know." George said with a devious smirk. "But you can't avoid her forever."

"It's not going to be _forever_ ," Fred said as they got closer and closer to Hermione and Ron who were hanging back and watching the crowd form into new duos and find a place around the room. He reasoned that they must be waiting to see who needed a new partner rather than throwing themselves into the slowly dissipating chaos held in the middle of the room. "And I'm not really avoiding her, I'm just trying to sort my head out."

"Well," said George in a quiet voice as he pulled his brother closer, "you may want to hurry up with that. Oi, Ron!"

Ron looked up from his supervision of the dispersing group with a slack mouth and scrunched brows. "What?"

"Fancy a bit of duelling?"

"Piss off!" Ron retorted smartly as he looked between the pair of them with a hint of misgiving in his eyes. Hermione huffed next to him at his language and started to re-tie her unruly hair that had come out during her practice with Ron. "Why would I want to duel you, anyway?"

"Because Mr. Potter said we need new partners, and I reckon Fred is a tough enough fight for one day; need someone easy to duel, yeah?" George replied easily. The tips of Ron's ears started to turn red as he spluttered out a measly "oi!" of indignation.

"Look," continued George as if Ron's signs of anger were barely a blip on his radar of awareness. "We need someone to duel, yeah? Two of us, two of you, let's split and get it over with before Harry tries to chuck us in detention. Unless you want to take on Fred?"

Ron's eyes shifted over to Fred as he looked for some tell-tale sign everything was a joke. Instead of a witty retort, Fred waved his wand around himself for the seemingly nth time that night and cast another silent _Protego_ around him, making sure that Ron could see the glimmery sheen around him to prove what he'd done. He suddenly felt impressive and slightly surprised at how well the Shield Charm managed to maintain a consistent barrier between him and everyone else. The spell was notorious for being weak in some areas if the caster was not focused enough, with horror stories of sliced ankles or chopped ears thrown around whenever Shield Charms were introduced to a near class. He nearly shuddered at the thought of losing an ear, he'd look ridiculous!

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione said as she threw her hands up in frustration. "Ron, everyone looks like they've got a partner except for Nevi - oh no, look, Padma is with him now. We did what Harry wanted and George and Fred are the only two without a new partner, so which one do you want?"

"Fr- no, George." Ron said as he looked between his two brothers. "You are George, right?"

"Of course it's George, he just said that was Fred!" Hermione snapped.

"Yeah but they do that, don't they?" Ron hurled back.

"Me and George _do_ do that, don't we?"

"Har har, George, very funny."

"What makes you so sure I'm George?"

"Because _that_ is Fred." Hermione said with an air of finality as she jerked her head towards the correct twin.

"But how do you know for sure?" George pressed, eager for an answer.

"Maybe because I've known your family for five years?" Hermione said as she crossed her arms under her breasts, tapping the middle of her wand on her bicep with impatience.

George snorted. "Ron couldn't even decide who we were and he's known us since Mum and Dad adopted him!"

"Fuck off!" Ron retaliated instantly.

" _Ronald!_ " Hermione said furiously in a hushed tone. "You are _a prefect_ , and no, I do not care that we're in a secret meeting that could land us in detention until the rest of the year, you still don't use that language around, well, anyone! Fred -" Fred's eyes snapped to Hermione's as she addressed him as determinedly as he'd been avoiding her for almost a month. " - where are we duelling?"

"You two stay here, we'll move off." George said as he threw Fred a wink full of mischief and looped his arm through Ron's to drag him away from Hermione. "Have fun!"

"'Have fun'? Ugh, we'll see about that. 'Have fun'" Hermione muttered to herself as she forced an already-stray hair back behind her ear.

Fred could barely breathe. He really, truly, deeply _did not_ want to duel Hermione sodding Granger, not when he'd done so well to keep his distance from her since Christmas. The only bright light in his mind was that he knew exactly where George slept and would make wringing his neck that much easier when he was asleep, because he was sure he was going to kill his dear brother for this.

Fucking George.

"Are you okay? You seem…off." Hermione commented as they paced a few steps back from each other.

 _Fake it 'til you make it, Freddie_. "You'd have to be paying attention to know if I'm 'off', wouldn't you?"

Hermione would probably be dizzy by the end of the meeting at the rate she was rolling her eyes. Instead of replying she stood in a defensive stance, one foot in front of the other, and rolled her shoulders in anticipation of battle.

Fred caught George's eye from across the room as he bowed towards his brother. He nodded his head towards Hermione and gave a thumbs up from behind his back where his hand was holding his wand.

"Are we skipping the silly formalities then, love?" Fred asked from his spot across the way. The shimmer of the _Protego_ was secure around him and he believed that it would stand against anything she would fire at him for his cheek if she was as annoyed at him as she was at his brothers.

"I guess not." Hermione gave a small curtsey that was as quick as she could make it before returning to her position. Fred gave a grand bow with an excessive hand wave, allowing himself a moment to take a deep breath in before standing upright. Beat her, let her beat him, who cared? As long as it was over quickly he could regroup with George, sock him one in the stomach, then go back to the uninterrupted internal debate he'd been having about the Letter and letting Hermione in on the fun little secret.

He sucked in another breath as he stared down the tip of Hermione's wand, already extended towards him. He knew, somehow, that she was about to cast a simple jinx; nothing painful, but something to test the waters and for her to determine what sort of duel it would be. On instinct he sent a _Finite Incantatem_ to block the attack.

The streak of colours from the spells collided in between Fred and Hermione, causing Cho Chang to jump in fright and turn to face them from her own duel with Neville a few metres away. The noise was only noticed by Cho and Neville however as the bang mingled with the cacophony of noise and banter from the students duelling.

Hermione tried another spell, a Knockback Jinx, but Fred managed to send yet another _Finite Incantatem_ at the same time as Hermione, causing the spells to collide again. Hermione's blue Knockback Jinx combined with Fred's red defensive spell had somehow made pink and yellow sparks in the middle of the two of them, and Hermione looked at Fred suspiciously as she jutted her chin towards him and waited for him to make the next move.

He couldn't think of a single spell to use against her. It was a fake duel, there were measures from the design of the room to make sure no one could get seriously hurt, he had just duelled George, but he could not think of a single spell that he felt comfortable using against her. He'd thrown his wand up on compulsion when she'd sent timid spells out his way, but something inside him wouldn't let him even try to hurt her. Was it because he knew about what they were? Was it because of the moral dillema he'd found himself in? Was he scared of Hermione? Who knew?

His wand shot up again and sent out a hazy purple Leg-Locker Curse, which collided with and coiled itself around Hermione's own casting of the same curse. The spells continued to hover in the space between them for a few seconds, then seemed to turn in on themselves and vanish into the air with a strangely swift and high pitched groan.

"Woah," an unfamiliar voice said from nearby. Cho Chang's friend was watching them duel now along with her partner, the asshole Smith from the Hog's Head, Cho, and Neville. Fred noticed from the corner of his eye that Harry had stopped talking to Michael Corner (who was duelling Parvati Patil) from the other side of the room and was also keeping an eye on them.

"What are you doing?" Hermione said in a shouted whisper to not draw any more attention to themselves. "Why aren't you duelling properly?"

"I am!" Fred said in the same whispered shout. "I've blocked all your spells, haven't I?"

"Not properly!" Hermione complained slightly louder.

"How is it not pro-"

He was cut short by a sudden bolt of concentration and renewed energy. His hand raised his wand and drew spells in the air, copying Hermione's _Silencio,_ Tongue-Tying Curse, _Tarantallegra_ , and _Wingardium Leviosa_ in such quick succession that he hadn't even known what he was casting. The spells never met their intended targets, instead they follow suit with their successors and had hit their matching counterpart and had exploded, combined, repelled, and soared towards the ceiling before flying apart into white sparks respectively.

It was the effect of the entangled _Wingardium Leviosa_ spells that had gotten the rest of the room's attention, and apart from Hermione and Fred's heavy breathing and Dean Thomas' groan of pain from being hit with Luna's summoning of a book behind him, there was not a noise in the room.

Hermione regarded Fred from their distance apart as she focused on returning her breathing to a normal rate. Well, that's what Fred was doing while she wasn't hurling spells at him, anyway. "What are you playing at, Fred Weasley?"

"Nothing!" Fred said with as much sincerity in his voice as possible. Hermione's eyes only narrowed though, and he had been half-expecting that response. It was hard to be taken seriously with such an outstanding reputation for comedy and trickery.

"Copying every single spell I do, as I do it, _non-verbally_ , I might add, is 'nothing'? Not suspicious, not a trick, just you duelling as you would against Death Eaters?"

"Well," Fred said as he tried to think of how he'd actually managed to do what she'd just described, "I doubt I'd go so easy on the Death Eaters."

That was entirely the wrong thing to say. He knew it instantly, he could practically feel the resentment rolling off of her in waves from where he was. The people closer to her looked thoroughly uncomfortable with the conversation and looked to each other, with some even taking a step back for safety.

"Maybe we should -" Harry said, attempting to intervene on his best mate's behalf before she did something silly. It was no use, the only reaction out of the fiery witch was her spinning on her heel to face a reluctant Harry.

"Go so easy?! Harry, every single person here is risking their necks under Umbridge's rule over Hogwarts to make sure we can defend ourselves, and he's _going easy_ on me?!"

"No, Hermione -" Fred tried to interrupt, desperate to rephrase what she'd clearly misconstrued.

"You do not have to go easy on me, Fred Weasley! I don't care if I'm younger than you, or if I'm a girl, or if you know more than me, that's the whole point of duelling with someone else, to learn how to defend yourself from them! Now are you going to duel me properly, or do I need to find another partner who will take me seriously?"

"I am taking you seriously!" Fred said hotly. She'd completely misunderstood what he was saying, of course he wasn't going to try and hurt her, they were Linked!

Hermione had squared her shoulders once more and held her wand ready for a fight. "Prove it, then."

Fred looked hopelessly around the room and caught Lee's eye. Lee was nodding encouragingly next to Angelina who was looking at Hermione with high regard. He looked for George next, and saw that his twin had rightly gone a touch paler after hearing her speech. Served him right, getting him into this mess in the first place. All George offered was a shrug of his shoulders with a baffled expression.

It seemed that there was no getting out from Hermione's challenge. He straightened his back, attempting to look at least a little more confident than he was feeling inside. The reluctance to cast anything at her was as strong as it was earlier, and he would've gladly let her win before if he hadn't been able to somehow match every spell she'd cast with mirror-like precision. He refused to let that happen again so he thought hard about what he could do that wouldn't cause any pain to her, but it distracting to have so many eyes around the room on him…

Distraction. That could work. That prat Lockhart had taught them some distractions in that short-lived duelling club, and had even inspired he and George for some product ideas with the utter nonsense he'd spout if you got him to talk about himself.

Without dropping the firm grip he was maintaining on his wand, he ripped his loosened tie from around his neck and made it float in front of him. Hermione was keeping her guard up but seemed to be trying to keep her intrigue in check, but he wasn't focusing on her, was he? With her eyes on his tie and not on him, he carefully raised the tie higher and higher above them until he was sure he had plenty of time for his next moves.

Fred kept up his nonverbal chanting for a moment longer as he slashed his wand down towards Hermione, forcefully flinging the small piece of striped material towards her. Before it reached her he shouted _Engorgio_ in his head and waved his wand in an open circle, sending a bolt of ice blue magic towards his tie. It grew unceasingly as it continued to fly towards Hermione, and her eyes widened as she sent a spell towards it. His tie continued to grow even with a large hole in it, courtesy of the witch who was now entangled in the material as it reached its target.

Hermione struggled against the material as it enveloped her, her arms nearly stuck to her sides by the tie as big as a bedsheet. The strength of the spell in his head, combined with his determination and centred thoughts, meant that Fred's magic was focused entirely on the task at hand - much different to their previous duel, and she was struggling to release herself from the transformed accessory. He thought about casting a _Silencio_ on her so she would be forced to use non-verbal magic, but she was a fifth year afterall, and that didn't seem terribly fair to her even if she wanted to be treated like a fair opponent, which she _clearly_ was. He'd have to clarify that afterwards.

She'd managed to shimmy the material enough to loosen its grip around her, and her wand arm was nearly free of the tie. He waited a moment longer until - yes, it had finally dropped to encircle her legs - and he cried out another spell. The pink vein of magic from the _Diffindo_ caused the tie to rip itself into shreds around her, and the size of the engorged cloth meant that she was effectively stuck in a heap of surprisingly heavy material.

Hermione looked down with slight derision and attempted to vanish the mess. Only a strip of material disappeared from the room, and to his utter amazement Hermione looked at him with the barest hint of a smile.

It was on.

She sent out an _Incarcerous_ non-verbally, but his newfound gift for somehow knowing what Hermione would cast meant that his repeated _Diffindo_ broke through the ropes before they even met him. She cast another spell, but whatever she had been aiming for with her convoluted wand movements was cancelled by her need to defend herself against his own _Ventus_ , which forced her to take several steps back from the force of the wind coming out of his wand. She held her ground when her cry of " _Finite!_ " cancelled out his spell and launched another spell at him.

The two of them continued for several minutes, each finding creative ways to attack or defend against each other. Fred sustained a minor injury from a _Reducto_ Hermione had cast in self-defence of his conjured plates that he'd sent flying towards her. Hermione's eyes had widened considerably when she'd seen blood soak through his white school shirt, but he could tell the cut on his bicep was barely more than a scratch and had sent a stack of plastic plates at her to both retaliate and prove that he was alright. He'd made her sing her casting of a Stinging Hex towards him with a carefully timed _Cantis_ , but she had very quickly managed to cancel the spell nonverbally much to his amused chagrin. Keeping with the spirit of song he'd also cast a _Tarantallegra_ her way, but his view was blocked as she'd sent piece after piece of his enlarged tie towards his face to block his line of view. Very clever, that witch.

She'd managed a few knocks as well. She'd thrown a _Rictusempra_ his way, but it wasn't as effective as it would've been on George because he wasn't particularly ticklish. Her _Quietus_ , however, had been an excellent example of an unlikely spell fit for duelling for the gathered crowd as it showed how important meaning and deliberation was for a spell. He'd gotten frustrated that his wise and somewhat (completely) childish ideas wouldn't work due to his voice being so quiet, and it took longer than he cared to admit to right his voice back to normal. He could see how pleased she'd been to get one over on him, and that had made the laughs from the crowd at him rather than with him much more worth it.

He was secretly impressed that he'd managed not to hurt Hermione at all by the end of it but still won, ending the duel by rendering her incapable of casting more spells. He'd deliberately transfigured books, beanbags, and other items from around the room to surround her as much as possible and broke them into several pieces to make the task of Vanishing each item a colossal pain. He'd managed to fling a Leg-Locking Jinx at her foot when she was trying to clear some space in front of her, and by the time she had cancelled his spell he'd already aimed another one at her other leg. They'd kept up the pattern for a good six or seven castings of the spell until she remembered her Shield Charm, and he felt flattered that he'd made her forget.

He'd broken through the Shield Charm with an array of silly spells to throw her off such as _Scorgify_ and _Ferula_ , and while she fought to manually free herself from the bandages wrapped tightly around her squeaky clean leg, he'd charmed the bits of tie around her to knot themselves before transfiguring them into rope that wrapped around her. To make sure he'd followed the definition of a duel he'd eventually stolen her wand with an _Expelliarmus_ , but returned the vinewood wand after waving it around in a nearly complete circle and whispering _Orchideous._ Many in the crowd laughed with amusement as he passed the now flowering wand back to Hermione, and he could've sworn he'd seen some girls in her year swoon at the arrangement.

Hermione, however, was not one to swoon at flowers from her opponent. She'd accepted Ron's help to get unwrapped from the many layers of rope still covering her. George had thunked him on the back a few times and made a quiet comment about brothers knowing best while Lee recapped the best bits to the Gryffindor Chasers. Ginny had joined him and laughed along with George's ideas for their next duel, but Fred could hardly believe she hadn't stunned him at her first available chance.

"Before we wrap things up," Harry said to gather the attention of the animated pack of students. George snorted next to Fred and Harry looked at him after a moment, disgruntled at his accidental pun. "I just wanted to say good job to everyone for their efforts with the D.A so far. I know it's not the most conventional group you've probably ever had, but I saw how much progress you've all made tonight when thinking about our first meeting."

Murmurs of agreement and triumph began to fill the room, but Harry's voice caused a quick hush. "A special thanks to Hermione and Fred tonight for demonstrating how important any lessons we might learn from a decent teacher might be. You need to be quick on your feet when you're in the middle of a battle or a duel, and any spell can help if you can use it right."

Lee, George, and Ginny broke out into applause at Harry's statement and the rest of the onlookers joined in immediately. Fred gave many bows to the crowd as Lee whistled his appreciation, and he flung out an arm towards Hermione as he straightened. Clearly embarrassed, Hermione gave a small curtsey and nod to her fellow students before sending Fred a glare that was nothing more than a kitten caught stealing a treat from the counter. He smirked at her discomfort and felt warm happiness bubble up inside him.

"I'm sorry that we didn't get around to much else today, but I am glad that we got to start meeting again. It's twenty to nine so we need to start heading back to our common rooms, but remember to keep your Galleons with you for the next meeting time, which should be in about three weeks?" Hermione nodded at Harry's question and he started to dismiss students in pairs of two and three based on house and age.

"Well, wasn't that something?" George asked in an impossibly smug voice. "Best battle I've seen in a good while, Ron couldn't even make it five spells in before I disarmed him."

"I'm still pissed off with you for making me do that." Fred said calmly as he watched Luna, Cho, and Cho's friend…Mary, Margeret, M something, anyway…leave the room after saying a prolonged goodbye to a now very busy Harry. "But it was…interesting."

"Interesting he says," George commented to an invisible third in their conversation. "Just interesting. You knew everything she was about to do, and half the spells she didn't even say out loud. How the bloody hell did you manage that?"

"Natural manly intuition? I have no fucking idea." Fred confided as they _Accio_ ed books from the now infamous duel into their hands to sort back onto the bookshelf.

"Well whatever it was, it was _good_. It was impeccable. And -" George paused as he shoved another book onto the bookshelf before looking directly at Fred. "It gave me heaps of ideas for the shop. Lee too."

Fred snorted. "Mind always with business, isn't it?"

"Success is just my calling, Gred, success is just my calling."

The room seemed to shrink in size as students progressively made their way back to their common rooms on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's command with the latter two watching the Marauders Map. Ernie MacMillan and Michael Corner were the only non-Gryffindors left, and only he, George, Ginny, and Lee were left besides the Golden trio. Harry called out to Michael and Ernie, and the former kissed his baby sister on the cheek before leaving the room.

"Ron, can you take Lee and Ginny back to the Common room?" Harry asked as the door swung closed behind the Ravenclaws.

"Lee? Why can't he go with Fred and George?" Ron asked.

"I don't want to get anyone else kicked out of Quidditch," Harry replied darkly. "Even if they're not on the team."

"And you just suppose that association with us in the halls at night -"

"- With no proper alibi -"

"- Is enough to get fired from commentating Quidditch?" George asked as Fred stood next to him with mock anger lining their features.

Harry looked between the two for a moment before answering simply, "Well, yes."

"Fair enough!" Fred said with good-natured acceptance.

Off you pop, Lee, there's a good lad." George added.

Lee laughed. "See you soon, mates!"

"Yeah, I'll meet you both in the Common Room." Ron said to Harry and Hermione shortly as Hermione deemed the corridors safe from teachers and other prefects. Hermione looked slightly taken aback at his tone, but he was following Lee and Ginny out the door before she could say anything.

The group of four stood in silence as Hermione watched their footsteps through the first few corridors.

"You can pay up now you two, I won't tell anyone." Harry said with a bemused expression to Fred and George.

"Eh?" George asked as Fred craned his neck to watch his mate's name make its way back to Gryffindor tower on the map he missed so much.

Harry raised his eyebrow at George. "For the duel? What did you have to promise Hermione to annoy Ron so much?"

"Nothing, we didn't plan that." Fred said with complete honesty.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?" Hermione questioned as she watched the map with interest. 'Mrs. Norris is getting closer to Ernie and Michael, but they should make it back in time if they don't stop."

"The duel, Hermione. What did Fred and George promise you to play along with them?"

Hermione looked up in surprise. "I have no idea what you mean."

Harry whirled back around to look at he and George. "You really didn't plan that?"

"Not at all, Harry. What's the time by the way, mate?" George asked even though he had his own watch.

"There's no way you didn't - shit, it's five past, we've got to get out of here before we're caught!"

"You two go ahead," Hermione said with a tone of leadership. "Harry and I can watch the map, there's no one in our corridors yet."

"All the merrier!" George said as he linked arms with Hermione and ushered her towards the door. Fred followed along and grabbed Harry, opening the door for everyone before quietly closing it behind him. The lanterns in the corridor were dim, but light enough to not need their wands. George released Hermione as she huffed at being handled but rechecked the map nevertheless.

"Be quick, and be quiet." Hermione said dangerously. "I'm not going down for you two."

Fred looked to his brother and saw his mischief reflected in his eyes but refrained from speaking for most of the journey. By the time they were two corridors away from the Tower, George had sent a nudge and a toss of his head towards Hermione at his brother before catching up to Harry and asking some bogus question about new broomsticks.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" Fred asked in a voice barely above a murmur.

Hermione looked up at him with surprise. "Practice or not, it was a duel. You were supposed to hurt your opponent, Fred."

"So, I did hurt you?" He'd been so sure that he'd made it through the spectacle without actually doing any damage that the felt a little more than alarmed that she had in fact been hurt.

"You didn't, but with the amount of people watching us you should have at least put up a decent fight."

"Decent fight?" Fred scoffed. "Who disarmed who?"

"That was a poor choice of words, I apologise." Hermione conceded. "I meant… I just want everyone to learn something, to be prepared, you know? With everything Harrys going through with Voldemort we shouldn't be the ones in charge of teaching Defence, but here we are."

Her voice was teetering on the edge of defeat, and it was painful to hear. "I think Harry made a good point, though. They need to use whatever spells they're comfortable with. Distract the bad guys with annoying spells to get out alive should be the goal if they don't feel confident with slinging stronger hexes and curses, shouldn't it?"

Hermione nodded at his words and he pushed down a strong urge to run far away from her. Damn that bloody Letter of Notice and damn his own mind from not being able to stop remembering it at the worst of times.

"I will say, and I'll curse you with something creative if you tell anyone, but it was sort of…fun."

"Fun?" Fred asked, his mind suddenly back to the conversation at hand. "You had _fun_? Owl the Prophet!"

"Prat." Hermione said with a breath of a laugh as they rounded the last bend to the Gryffindor Common Room entrance. "But it was fun to try and think of out-of-the-box ways to get around the random things you were doing. It was a good mental exercise."

"I aim to please." Fred said with pride. It felt like a glowing letter of recommendation hearing her feedback, and what more could Hermione Granger want than a 'good mental exercise'? "Do you want to know a secret, though?"

George and Harry had made it to the Fat Lady's portrait and had already given her the password. Harry was waiting for them as he held it open after George, but Hermione paused before getting within his earshot. "As long as it's not something rude or stupid."

"I think everyone watching could tell you had fun."

Hermione rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the portrait hole, but not before he caught the faint smile that graced her face. Following along, he could feel the pleasant mixture of satisfaction mingling with slight excitement from his core to his fingertips as he scrambled in behind Harry and Hermione.

"What took you lot so long then?" Ron demanded as Harry ran his fingers through his hair and shook a cobweb from a finger. Hermione straightened her skirt from climbing in the portrait hole and George grabbed Fred and pulled him towards the stairs.

"He's in a mood apparently. He was a bit shitty that you made a show of duelling Hermione according to Gin."

"And he's mad at her and not me?"

"He's an idiot." George agreed.

Fred headed up the stairs with George to the boy's bedrooms to meet with Lee. George grabbed the Laughs Log and made a few notes with Lee while Fred got out of his stained shirt and into a Weasley sweater and plaid pyjama bottoms before setting up a game of Exploding Snap. Once George and Lee had changed and joined him in the middle of the room for some vigorously stimulating rounds of the magical game, Fred began to feel his body free itself of the tension he didn't realise he'd been carrying all night.

He'd somehow known every spell Hermione was going to use against him and mirrored them. There was no way that could be anything other than the Link in their magic, because he couldn't even do that with George. He'd had an overwhelming aversion to hurting her, which could have been because he didn't go around challenging young women to duels and beating them easily, maybe he simply didn't want to hurt Hermione, or it could've been because of the Linked Magic. The sole book he'd been able to procure on the matter had been a history lesson and had nothing to do with both issues raised from the night's D.A meeting, and the library didn't have any other books dedicated to Linked Magic. The fact of the matter was that a large part of the student body might have just witnessed something very strange without knowing it, and if Hermione used her brain and tried to work out how it had happened, she might start looking into obscure forms of magic, and then he'd be…well, he didn't know what he'd be.

All he knew was that he really, _really_ needed to work out what to do.

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	7. Chapter 6: The Guilt

A/N: I love coming up with ideas for products for WWW and I hope I haven't inadvertently stolen someone else's product ideas! I'm trying to base this story with as much canon-fodder as possible, so some names have been taken straight from the books/HP wiki, but hopefully my own ideas still shine through.

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The second Hogsmeade weekend of the year had been scheduled for the 14 of February which, in Fred's unattached eyes, was positively brilliant. No, he wasn't planning on picking up a bird in the Leaky Cauldron and whisking her off into a magical snow-filled sunset, but he _was_ planning something else. Something much more fun. Something much more…profitable.

It would be completely tactless to assault the unsuspecting village with mischief and mayhem on such a romantic day. He and George had never had a qualm with love and romance - they were simply too busy for something serious - but that didn't mean they weren't respecting of the traditional dates and drama Valentine's Day was guaranteed to bring. They would not be the perpetrators of chaos on a day that some ladies (and some hopeless romantic lads) would demand their head on a stake for if they ruined it.

They'd be the catalysts instead.

With him being completely string-free and George promising to find a quiet half-hour or so with Katie at some point during the day, the twins had donned their cleanest and most unburnt robes and combined them with ties charmed an eye-watering shade of magenta. They'd quite easily convinced Lee to sneak through to Hogsmeade through the Honeydukes passageway they'd discovered from the Marauders Map with the day's merchandise, and all they had to do was convince Filch that they weren't up to anything. Filch was unable to prove they had anything "nasty" or "rotten" on them, so they mentally flipped him off as they made their way to a carriage.

The ride to the village wasn't as drastically cold as their last visit, however clouds were rolling in fast with the promise of unrelenting rain. Fred was grateful that they'd managed a carriage as transport instead of walking, and he and his brother had spent the trip discussing the best spot in town to set up shop. George was all for standing in the main square and bellowing out their wares, however Fred argued the life of the travelling salesman to be his calling. He gave up in the end and agreed to walk around the main street and square, as long as they could bellow out their wares and sell them before the rain hit. And the first round at The Three Broomsticks was on George.

By the time they'd caught up with Lee (who had been trapped in Honeydukes for twenty minutes as an employee had been in the back of the shop) and set up their trolley in the middle of the village they could tell the day would be lucrative. One of Lee's best skills was commentary and George pulled him into action immediately with an Amplifying Charm to attract students and adults walking past. Fred didn't need to consult George, their surprisingly intuitive understanding of business and reading of body-language letting them know that their products would best be sold with them splitting up rather than showing off their invention together.

George had taken the cart of witch-targeted items, loving dubbed the "Wonder Witch" line, and strode towards a group of Hufflepuff girls sitting on the lip of the town's fountain with charmed mugs. Knowing that the girls - third or fourth years by the size of them - would be captivated by George's showmanship, he grabbed the cart left with the "pizzazz" items and beckoned to Lee to follow him. He headed back towards Honeydukes as it was the shop with the most foot traffic on the street, and grabbed a glaringly bright box.

"Step back kids, you don't want to be too close to this!" Lee called with fiery spirit into his wand. The echoed voice naturally caught many of the students' attention and they stopped in their tracks. 

Fred grinned at Lee in gratitude and opened the box he'd selected. Night-time would be best for the firecrackers, but the heavy cloud coverage meant people further down the street would still be able to see the visual effects and bring them closer. 

The crowd around Fred and Lee was starting to become dense. It mostly consisted of boys from varying Hogwarts houses, but there was a spattering of couples mixed in too. He had an idea to add to his show after spotting two Ravenclaws watch him as they wrapped their arms around each other in the cold.

"Lee's right, you may want to step back if you like the way your hair looks!" Fred yelled through the excited chattering of students. Enough got the message and stood back, and those that didn't followed their peers very quickly as he held up his wand.

"These - oh, thanks -" Fred said under his breath as Lee pointed his wand towards him. He let the Amplifying Charm do the yelling for him as he focused on the product in his hand. "- are our very own firecrackers, made with only the finest and grandest of gestures in mind. Believe it or not, these beauties are from the Basic Blaze Box, but I can assure you that after the display of pure delight you are about to see, you'll be doubting it really came from a box labelled 'Basic'! Lee?" 

Lee took the striped red and green box from Fred's cart and walked around the crowd with it, letting the students get a peek at the packaging as Fred set up. Fred put the firecrackers on the ground in three lines based on type and waited for Lee to finish his lap around the group.

"Today's demonstration will show you all three of the products available to you with a purchase of a Basic Blaze Box, but don't be fooled! Each firecracker is able to be customised in its own unique way. For example, the line of rainbow firecrackers…you, in the shoes with the untied laces, care to share your favourite colour?"

"Uh…red?" a girl at the front of the crowd said with uncertainty as she looked down at her laces that were indeed untied.

"Oh, you make me blush," Fred quipped as he ran a hand through his chin-length hair and he heard snorts and laughter from random audience members. "What about you, mate, dare to say blue?" Fred asked as he batted his own blue eyes.

"Nah, dark green!" a third year said as his mates nudged his shoulder and heckled him.

"Red and green it is, then!" Fred called over the noise. "All you need to do is apply old Flitwick’s Colour Change Charm to these Colour Clashers. And yes, I know it sounds very simple and easy to do, but these firecrackers are made with, well, flammable ingredients, so our high-quality wrappings and packaging means that even if you get the charm wrong in any way, you are one hundred percent guaranteed to not have it backfire on you. We went through _a lot_ of testing to make sure you would be safe."

With a dramatic roll of his shoulders he cast the Colour Change Charm on each of the six rainbow firecrackers on the ground, swiping his wand in the correct motions through the air to determine the colours from his rapt teenaged audience. 

"Make sure you're standing back, and now…!"

The firecrackers wasted no time after his wand movement to spring to life and jumped into the air with charmed synchronization. They hovered a foot or so from their heads for a moment without moving, but they began to spin lazily through the air. With each passing heartbeat they began to spin faster and faster but did not drop or rise an inch. The small cords dangling from each firecracker lit themselves as the spinning reached its peak leaving golden circles of sparks in their wake, until the firecrackers raised another three feet and exploded in beautiful clusters of vibrant crimson and verdant green. As stray red and green sparks from the crackers touched their opposing colour, they mixed and created a stunning show of gold and silver specks that added to the wonderment of beauty before the students. The crowd broke into applause at the spectacle which activated yet another charm within the firecrackers, letting the clusters of light burn off slower than expected, blinking slowly out of existence until the clapping seized and then rapidly faded away.

"How was that for a show?!" Lee shouted to the audience, his Amplifying Charm worn off from lack of focus on maintaining the spell as he watched the products come to life. Cheers came from the still-growing crowd as more couples and single students joined to watch on. "Fully customisable colours available - if you can imagine it, you can charm it! Knock the socks off any witch or wizard under a starry night sky, or safely enjoy an intimate show in private quarters thanks to the safety features nestled within the charms within!"

Safety charms were right. The skin around Fred's right eyebrow was still sensitive to touch after all the weeks of healing.

George managed to part the crowd and joined Lee, patting his rather full pockets in acknowledgement to Fred. Nodding knowingly, Fred cast his own _Sonorous_ and started to address the crowd again.

"The next type of cracker - I should mention you get a total of twelve in each Basic Blazes Box, four of each of the kind you'll see today - is our Electrifying Eruptions. May I have a volunteer give me a shape or basic picture to draw?"

His question was met with a great deal of noise that merged together as one. He took the four most distinct shapes he could hear - a leaf, a wand, the letter H, and a teacup - and carved each item into a separate Electrifying Eruption with the pointer included in the box. He chucked two at George and the other two at Lee who both proceeded to show off the designs to the crowd in opposite directions. "Now as you can see, the drawings I've carved into the crackers are quite crude and rushed, and that's okay! You can spend as long as you want on your design, and can even purchase a Steady Sight for an extra five Sickles to magnify the drawing area and make your drawings as intricate as you wish. But should we see what they do first?"

On his cue, George and Lee placed the firecrackers back into their line and ushered people to stand back from where they had moved forward for a better look. As soon as Fred deemed the crowd far enough away from the crackers- he was sure the protective charms embedded within them would hold, but better to be safe than sorry - he pointed his wand and activated them nonverbally, around five seconds apart from each other. As they rose into the air murmurs of excitement ran through the crowd with anticipation, and the sky was once again illuminated with he and George's handcrafted magic. First, the letter H was brought to life, the sparks from the cracker forming a distinct H in stunning silver for a few dazzling seconds before blasting apart. The sparks of shrapnel from the blast were more H's that spun and weaved their way around the captivated horde of students before slowly blinking out of existence. Before the crowd could react, a second cracker erupted from where it was spinning in the air and sent out the wand that Fred had drawn, a slightly wobbly stick with a sketched beam of light shining out of it. Miniature wands no bigger than a pinkie finger began to rain down on the group and manoeuvred around them like teeny broomsticks. As the crowd began to applaud again they began to race faster but did not die out any slower. 

The crowd remained captivated as the teacup and leaf came to life, silver sparkles of sleepless nights bringing joy to Fred's face as he watched his brother and his mate start to hand over boxes of product to crowd-turned-customers. He was awash with faithful conviction that whenever they decided to open a shop it would work out, no matter how much the rent cost for a building in the middle of Wizarding London's busiest street or with months of their client base in another country. It was a decidedly satisfying moment to bask in as the remainder of the silver speckles faded on the darkening sky.

"And for our final trick!" Fred called to the crowd over the chattering of excited teens. "Something that could bring out a mischief maker in all of you, or something that could make a girl fall in love. Inside each box is a card with a special incantation and step-by-step wand movement instructions to bring your words to life."

He picked up one of the four remaining firecrackers on the ground, a cylinder marked with a distinct fire pattern. He held it aloft to gain the crowd's attention before pointing his wand at himself and calling out _"Verbum Ignis!”._ An incandescent blue light shone from the tip of his wand, and as he whispered a quiet phrase to the light it changed to an almost glaring yellow. Watching that he didn’t let his fingers holding the firecracker and the tip of his wand meet, he carefully tapped the base of the firecracker three times, one for each word whispered to his wand. The light encapsulated the entire firecracker for only a moment until there was no light coming from neither firecracker or wand. He placed it back on the ground carefully, then pointed his wand to make it spring to life in the air.

It spun in the same manner as its counterparts, the only difference being the fire design on the cracker looking as if it were a real flame. It was a failsafe way George had devised to know which crackers had been given a message and which ones were ripe for testing during their experimental phase of the cracker. It continued to gain momentum above their heads, going from idle spirals to neck-breaking revolutions in a matter of seconds, but unlike the previous examples this firecracker did not explode into its intended show at once. Letter after letter flew out from the breaking cracker as if the words were made of its debris, and soon the word "Happy" shone brightly above the students, illuminating nearby faces under the stormy clouds. "Valentine's" came next, coming to float gently next to its mate, and "Day" followed shortly after. The words bounced around merrily in shining azure blue, rotating around the gathered audience with gaining speed until the words were too blurry to read. The three words met together in a ball of blue light before shooting even further overhead and cracked loudly into miniature fireworks that rained down delicately onto the students. 

He felt a bit sorry for George and Lee, he really did. The rush of bodies sent their way had been enormous; nearly the entire crowd of thirty or so students had tried to be the first ones in line for the Basic Blazes Box and the two of them could barely keep up with the fists trying to shove money into their hands. He nearly got his wand out and asked them to make a formal and less dangerous line, but that wouldn't exactly be their style, would it?

The only thing able to keep the throngs of adolescent boys desperate to get their hands on customisable firecrackers (Merlin, the combination of adolescent boys and firecrackers was a merchant's dream, wasn't it?) was the downpour of rain. The light drizzle that had started as George and Lee handed out the first few boxes was now steadily beating a near-painful rhythm onto the top of his skull, and he called out over the clamour of noise that they needed to take shelter. The crowd had mostly dispersed after George's hollerings that they'd be selling the boxes back at Hogwarts but there were a few boys a few years below them desperate enough for the boxes to get completely soaked to the bone in rain. 

At last the three boys managed to make their way to the saviour of shelter. The awning of The Three Broomsticks provided enough coverage from the onslaught of water to successfully cast a Hot Air Charm on their hair and clothes to prevent them from dripping in the pub, and as soon as they were dried they open the heavy door to the pub.

It was almost as if the entirety of Hogwarts from third year up had convened in the pub. They'd managed to get the door open but could barely stay together as the multitude of bodies blocked their path towards the equally crowded bar. Fred heard Lee say something about finding a seat somewhere or other, but by the time he'd turned around his dreadlocked friend had already been swept into the mass.

Now that he'd found a place to have both his feet on the floor he began to look around properly, enjoying the warm sensation that reminded him of the Burrow that was beginning to fill him as he was surrounded by. The bar reminded him of McGonagall's dance lessons from last year with the way the boys and girls were separated on either side. Sure, there were some couples sitting at bar tables and enjoying some warm chips together, but most of the groups were exclusively one-gendered. 

Valentine's Day. The one day of the year no repulsion spell was needed. 

"Fucking finally," George muttered next to him as he too found a place to stand without being knocked into. 'Had to warn those Hufflepuff idiots not to set off any firecrackers in the pub. Do kids really get dumber each year?"

"Smaller, too." Fred replied in earnest as he continued scanning the pub, now looking for wrongdoers. Catalysts for romantic chaos was the plan, not for lifetimes bans from The Three Broomsticks. His thoughts darkened as his mind reminded him that that would be the second lifetime ban he'd be the receiver of in just over four months.

"Tiny little gits they can be, yeah? I'll go grab us some Butterbeers if you want to go and find Lee - I think I saw him near the back wall opposite the fireplace." George offered as he nodded towards the bar and the pretty barmaid.

"I'm alright waiting here, make sure you don’t spill three pints down your front as you get through this racket."

"Tosser." replied George. "You just want to see if anyone turns up for Granger, don't you?"

"What?" Fred asked. He didn't realise his eyes had started rescanning the pub until George started snorting.

"As if you didn't see her behind us, you're standing between her and the door!"

Fred spun on his heel without a moment’s thought. He couldn't see her over the heads of other students even with his generous height so he stood on his tip-toes to gain leverage. George laughed as he walked towards the bar, leaving him looking like an idiot as he attempted to tower over the crowd. 

Fortunately, a brief gap in the mingling students allowed him a chance glimpse at the witch sitting by herself at a table near the bathrooms. 

Unfortunately, another gap in the crowd allowed _her_ to see _him_ looking like an absolute git staring straight at her on his toes.

"What are you doing?" George asked, joining him as he pushed through the bodies towards Lee's general direction. The Butterbeers were barely managing to stay in their glasses but Fred wasn't concerned with them at all.

It had been a month since their duel, and two months of avoiding her if the duel wasn't included. He still hadn't managed to find any books or research on Linked Magic, and with the current climate of the wizarding world he was hesitant to place an order specifically for them. Talking to Hermione about it - if he _were_ to talk to Hermione about it - would be a lot easier if he knew what he'd be rambling on about. 

And if he was being honest with himself, he still felt a gnawing guilt about the overall situation. He felt like he'd just past the childhood finish line and was now being thrust into the adult world with only George to lean on - hell, in the Muggle world he wouldn't even be considered an adult! But _Hermione_? No matter how mature and adult-y she seemed, she was a fifth year for Merlin's sake, and he didn't want to be the one to dash the miniscule moments of her childhood that were left after the danger and drama of being Harry Potter's friend. 

Whenever he thought of Ron he'd completely shut all thought down. Ron was completely innocent in the situation (they all were, really, but him). No matter how stupid or git-like he was, Ron was his brother and Hermione's best friend who had such an obvious crush on her that he was surprised that he could manage to talk to her some days. Ginny might have been the princess of the family, but Ron was definitely his parents favourite. He was pretty much a mix of all the best parts of his siblings reduced into one person, and his stubborn and self-deprecating ways weren't enough to mask his good attributes.

The mass of students stopped him in his tracks again as he tried to locate Lee over their heads somewhat desperately. Unluckily for him, George had managed to follow behind him completely as many of the Hogwarts students knew better than to try and get between the pair, and he had been able to follow him without pause. 

"Mate," George started, "we should go and talk to her."

"Talk to her? You daft or something?" Fred asked incredulously as he tried to keep moving forward. The students around him were standing in between two tables and couldn't move enough to let even his lanky frame through. He had no choice but to turn around and attempt to manoeuvre past his twin.

"You're running away from someone you might be forced together with in a few years." George said just loud enough so Fred would be the only one to hear him.

Fred scoffed at his twin. "Forced? Thanks for the vote of confidence, George."

"Y'know what I mean," George said as he blocked Fred from his desired path, leading him with no choice but to head toward the bar or toward Hermione. "Say you are going to Bond together, be a bit awkward if you haven't spoken for months before hand, wouldn't it?"

Fred glared at his brother as he used his peripherals to look for an escape. George took a step closer, forcing him to take a step backwards to where he was hyperaware of Hermione's presence. "She's alone by the looks of it, anyway. Three empty chairs around her and she's sitting by herself. Must be a bit of a lonely Valentine's Day, right?"

Fred was flabbergasted at the dirty way George was playing. "I really don’t give a shite if it's Valentine's day - and besides, it's not like I've got the Letter and now I'm instantly in love with her!"

"Not yet," George said with a smirk and a wink, "but maybe it's on the horizon?"

"Oh yeah, real funny." Fred asked in a voice dripping in sarcasm. "You gonna be the one to tell Ron about my upcoming affairs with Granger?"

"Ron? Oh, for the love of…here" George muttered to himself as he handed a young Hufflepuff the single Butterbeer in his left hand before grabbing Fred by the arm and yanking him towards Hermione with two full Butterbeers sloshing down his other hand.

"Hermione! What a pleasant surprise! Seat taken?" George asked merrily as he plonked himself down on the empty barstool to her right before she could respond. 

Hermione looked at him with a thinly veiled look of suspicion and confusion as he took a sip from his Butterbeer. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I do have one question if you'd be so kind as to answer it." George said as he eyed the nearby patrons of the pub. "What's a stunningly pretty girl like you doing all alone in a pub on the most romantic day of the year?"

Hermione snorted as she wrapped her hands around her half-empty glass. "The day is only the most romantic one of the year if that's when you decide it to be. My mum likes to think that, anyway."

"Clever woman, that mother of yours." George said as he nodded in what Fred guessed he believed made him look wise. Hermione's look of doubt ruined the effect somewhat. "Fred and I think the same thing actually."

"Mmm?" Hermione hummed as she took a dainty sip from her glass. "Valentine's Day isn't your style?"

"Not particularly. Sit down, Fred, you're blocking the path."

Fred turned around to see two adult witches trying to get past him on the way to the woman's loo. George kicked out the chair across from him, and he sat down on the chair that happened to be very close to Hermione. Giving George a dark look, he pulled the seat closer towards him and sat as far away from her as possible without looking rude.

"What was I saying?" George asked as he watched Fred take a hearty gulp from his own pint. "Valentine's Day, right. Your mum is right about the romance factor, and the way we see it, what's the point in being romantic on the same day as everyone else? Sure, grab a bird some flowers and let her know you haven't forgotten about old Saint Valentine, but why constrain everything into one day? That would be like following the rules, wouldn't it?" He mocked shuddered at the thought.

"Is that why Katie and Angelina aren't with you today, then?" Hermione asked.

"Miss Bell and I will be meeting up shortly, but Fred, you don't have plans with Ange today, do you?"

"No, we are not." Fred said through barely open teeth. George already damn well knew that he and Angie weren't pursuing each other anymore so the information was purely for Hermione's benefit. He could have genuinely killed his own twin with how uncomfortable he was. Hermione had no need to know anything about him whatsoever, but here they were, chatting away like nothing life-changing was hanging in the balance, like every time he chanced a glimpse at her a sense of wrongness and condemnation didn't threaten to flow through him. 

"Oh, er, sorry." Hermione said hastily as she looked anywhere but him. 

"Enough about us, Hermione -" George said to ease the growing tension at the table. "- you still haven't answered my question. Why are you all alone at such a big table?"

"Well, in…ten minutes," she said, pausing to pull up her grey sleeve to check her wristwatch. "Harry will be joining me with a few…other people"

"'Other people'? Like a double date?" George asked with distinct curiosity. "Chucked my youngest brother already?"

Fred nearly slapped George for his leading questions but was intrigued by the answer regardless.

A blush began to spot Hermione's cheeks, rising from the top of the grey turtleneck until it reached her cheeks. "I'm not dating your brother -"

"Not _yet._ " George said suggestively, flashing his eyes towards Fred. 

Fred felt like crawling into a hole and waiting for Hermione to come and tell him she'd received her letter and would never in a million years complete a Bonding ceremony with him. Embarrassment and guilt were fighting a raging battle within him and he took a large swig of his nearly-empty drink to have something to hide behind. 

"Or maybe you won't ever date Ron after today's mystery date." George smirked. "C'mon, Hermione, who's the fortunate man?"

Hermione looked between the two of them as if she too wanted to escape. "Today is as far away from romantic as I can get, thank you very much. I'm -"

"-upset Ron is stuck at Quidditch training?" George asked, cutting her off.

"George," Fred said warningly. He could very plainly see Hermione was getting frustrated with the line of questioning.

"I am meeting with _Rita Skeeter_ , okay? How's that for a date? Harry, Luna Lovegood, Rita Skeeter and I are all going to sit down and…well, you'll find out soon enough."

George looked as stunned as he felt. Rita Skeeter? The incessant woman who wrote all those articles last year about the Triwizard Tournament?

" _Why?_ " George asked sceptically. 

"Because Harry has the right to let his side of the story be heard, and I am sick of people making his life miserable because some…some _idiots_ in office aren't being held responsible for spreading such damaging lies!"

Fred could almost believe he could've felt the fiery passion radiating off Hermione even if he wasn't sitting next to her. She'd raised her voice as she spoke but none of the other students seemed to pay them any mind. 

"But…" George started, confusion etched on his face, "why is Luna going to be joining you?"

"Because her dad has a newspaper?" Fred said, hazarding a guess. 

George made a noise of derision. "As if people would believe anything in it! You've heard the way Mum talks about it, we tease her all the time about the articles!"

"He's right." Hermione said to George defensively. The spark of pride that lit within him was dashed instantly as George looked at him with a knowing expression. Wanker.

"The public might not believe anything that comes out of the Quibbler but they believe everything that comes from horrible Rita Skeeter. Once people start finding out that Harry himself has been interviewed by her they'll pick up the magazine and realise that Harry's story fills in a lot of the missing information that Fudge has carefully kept out of the papers, and if enough people start questioning Fudge, then -"

"- people will start believing Harry." Fred finished, barely conscious that he had actually spoken aloud.

"Exactly!" Hermione said, beaming at him. "See, George? If you'd just listen for once and stop interrupting m-"

"Maybe I should leave you two alone then? Let you have your well-informed chats about the current political climate?" George said as he made to stand up. Fred begged at him not to leave with his eyes, practically shouting in his head that he'd dismember each limb if he left him alone.

"Oh no, you should both go, they'll be here any minute!" Hermione cried as she checked her watch again. "Hopefully Harry finishes his date soon, anyway, because I honestly cannot stand Rita Skeeter."

As if waiting for her cue Rita Skeeter appeared at the table and sat in the seat across from Hermione. Fred noticed instantly that the past year or so had not been favourable to her, with the only word coming to his mind to describe her being 'ragged'. Broken nails, missing diamantes from her glasses, patchy makeup and limp hair; if Hermione had not told him Rita Skeeter was set to join her he'd call over Rosmerta to kick out the homeless stranger setting up her bag and quills on Hermione's table.

"So, Miss Granger," Rita said with upmost contempt in her voice. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_ of your summons."

Fred watched Hermione examine the woman with a hard mix of uncertainty and disdain. "I'd rather not explain it again until everyone's here, but they'll be here any minute."

"How many others are joining us, then?" Rita asked as she eyed him and his brother. "I can't imagine what you'd need from me with these two hooligans with you. I saw your little street performance, y'know."

"Oh yeah?" George asked questioningly. "What did you think?"

"Street performance?" Hermione asked, looking to Fred for answers. 

"Yeah, just a bit of a demonstration of some of our new products." Fred said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was proud of the way he didn't care what others personally thought of his work as long as they kept selling enough to put a roof over their heads in the near future, but yet again Hermione's opinion of him seemed to be more important than the rest.

"How did it go?" she asked with genuine inquisitiveness.

"Spectacularly! I wandered over to sell some of our more lady-friendly products to some Hufflepuffs and by the time I found Fred he'd got half the students crowded around him and watching the show!"

"Did anyone get hurt?"

"'Course not, Prefect, no volunteers this round of demos. And if there are in the future, they will be the 'well-informed and in-charge' subjects you demand of us. But you should've seen the way Freddie had the crowd going, it was spectacular!"

"Stop it, George." Fred half-demanded as he drained the rest of his drink. All he needed was Rita effing Skeeter working out that something was up with him to make his life so much peachier than it already was at the 'mo.

"If we're still waiting for guests," Rita interrupted, "we could at least get some drinks to warm up from the rain."

"Sounds delightful, Skeeter - Hermione will take a refill of her Butterbeer." George deadpanned. 

Rita stared at his twin for a heated moment before clambering ungracefully out of her stool and strode towards the busy bar with her wallet clutched firmly in her hand.

"You don't need to provoke her." Hermione said in her most Prefect-esque voice towards George, who seemed to be having a great time.

"She's a git, Hermione, let me have my fun."

"But I need her help, George! She won't do what I…well…"

Fred looked at George as Hermione trailed off. She seemed to slump forward in her chair as she followed her own train of thought, but suddenly sat up straight with fierce determination taking over her eyes and body. 

Fred certainly wasn't going to be the one to ask what that had been about.

"Since you want us to leave you alone with the she-devil I'll grab us some more drinks." George said to the both of them. Meet me back with Lee, yeah?"

"I'll go with you." Fred said, rising from his barstool as well. 

George gave Fred a look that said he didn't appreciate what he was doing, but Fred had been giving him that look for almost fifteen minutes without it working for him. 

"Hang on, Fred, before you go -" Hermione said as she sat up a little straighter. The second his eyes betrayed him to look at Hermione, George had shot off like a rogue broomstick towards the bar and all Fred could do was watch him leave him alone with the girl causing him so much guilt and confusion. 

"You can go in a minute, I promise. I just, well… are you okay?"

The question took him by surprise. George's warning of things being awkward rattled around in his head and he felt the urge to throw a Curse at something to distract himself. 

"What do you mean?" he asked, feigning innocence. 

Hermione looked almost as uncertain as he felt. "Well, for starters, you seem…off."

"Off?"

"Yes, off." Hermione said with a nod to herself. "You just don't seem as happy as you usually do…I'm sorry, I know it's not my place to bring it up but-"

"It's fine." Fred said, effectively cutting her off. "Just have a lot on my mind to sort through?"

He didn't mean to make it sound like a question - he definitely did have a lot going through his mind (mostly about _her_ , but she didn't need to know that). 

She nodded as she thought, holding her glass in both hands as she stared at it. 

“I haven’t done anything, have I? To you?”

“What?” The surprise was evident in his voice because Hermione looked at him with unsureness.

“I don’t know, really – I might be reading into things too much, but you’ll be sitting with George and Lee in the Common Room and I’ll come in after being in the library and you practically run for the boys’ staircase, and you seem to turn away if you see me in the hallways at school, or, well, I don’t know. But it’s been nagging at me for a while now.”

Well, if he thought he’d been getting away with his stealthy avoidance of her…

“It’s not you, it’s…something else.” he finished lamely.

“Something else.” She reiterated in a voice as dull as his. “It’s not about our duel, is it?”

“Our duel? That was the most fun I’ve had in a while!” he exclaimed truthfully. 

She seemed to perk up slightly at that, and he could sense her agreement even if she didn’t say it outright. 

“Well it’s good to know you’re not avoiding me, because I know we’re not close or anything, but it’s been…I don’t know, odd.”

“Sorry about that, I’ll uh, I’ll try to not be weird about it.”

That was entirely the wrong thing to say and he knew it the moment the words left him. Now she’d think that she _had_ done something wrong when it was actually him.

“Look,” he continued as she watched the students around the pub, carefully not meeting his eyes. “I didn’t want things to be weird between you and Ron after the duel, so I tried to stay away and not cause you any more fuss. You know how he can be.”

Hermione let out a breathy laugh of relief at his words. “Yes, I know how he can be, trust me. You might be his brother, but I think I get the brunt of his jealousy sometimes.”

They sat for a moment, the air nearly clear once again. He felt genuinely bad for making it so obvious that he’d been avoiding her like a plague, but now he felt even worse for Future Him. How was he going to go on and pretend nothing was different between them during their - admittedly infrequent – interactions when he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders to make life changing decisions.

"And I'm sorry for bringing up Angelina. I didn't know you two had…you know."

"Ange? Ah, don't worry about that." Fred said with sincerity as he abandoned his endless guilt and joined Hermione’s train of thought. "That's been over since October."

"Oh, really? You seemed so down before."

"Not about Ange." Fred said in a rush. The last thing he needed was her thinking he was pining over some other bird. Not that he was pining after her, but it would make life easier in the future if she knew he was single.

George might've been onto something.

“Oh, good.” Hermione said in a rush. “I thought I made you uncomfortable.”

“Nah, she’s right.”

Hermione hesitated for another few moments, chewing on the tip of her bottom lip as she thought. "Did you ever talk to your Dad?"

"Dad? About what?"

"About what happened after the Quidditch match, you said you would if you didn’t work out how you threw Malfoy into the air - unless you worked out how you did that?"

He wasn't sure what he looked like to be honest. He felt both fire and ice prickle his features as he looked at Hermione blankly leaving him to wonder if he was blushing or had gone paler than a heavy snowfall. No words were rushing forward in explanation in his mind, no lies, no truths, just nothingness. He must've looked an absolute state because she was eyeing him strangely now.

Technically he could say he hadn't worked it out without lying. He wasn't one hundred percent sure it was their Linked magic that had been the cause of Malfoy's mysterious flight, but it did seem to be remarkably similar to the Piré's from _Linked Magic: A History_. He could also say that he did know and let Hermione deal with the onslaught of information he'd be able to dump on her for her to deal with instead of him, but that was hardly fair, was it?

"I've got my suspicions," Fred said slowly, trying to figure out what to say as he went. "Nothing concrete, but…something."

"Care to share?" Hermione asked as she too finished her drink. 

Fred was sorely tempted to let her know that he'd been sent a Letter of Notice. He knew without a doubt she wouldn't tell anyone, but she'd ask him who he was Linked to and he wasn’t ready to answer that, not yet.

"It's complicated," was all he could manage to say. She looked disappointed at that, and before he could stop himself he tacked on, "but I'll let you know soon, yeah?"

"Are…" Hermione said so quietly under the noise of the students around them that he leaned in before thinking first, "are you in danger?"

He was so close to her. Closer than he had been in a month, closer than he'd intentionally been since Christmas Eve. He could nearly feel her breath meeting his as he stared at her, words escaping his mind again. It was an effect she'd had before, and he'd be damned if he blamed anything but their Link for it. Her eyes were filled with such a different expression than before the ill-fated Quidditch match but didn't fail to take him back in time to the moment she'd briefly kissed his cheek.

He could do it himself this time, it would be the Weasley Twin thing to do, wouldn't it? Find out if the weird sensation he'd been feeling for the past twenty minutes was nerves from being close to her or from something ancient she didn’t know they shared? How hard would it really be to kiss her in the back of a crowded pub and see if she felt the same as him? Hell, he wanted to see if he could recreate that warm feeling from when she sat by his bedside in the Hospital Wing, the pleasant mix of comfort and happiness that -

"Fred?"

Hermione was blinking at him now, her pink-tinged cheeks barely a foot away from him. Her whisper snapped him back to reality, the noise of the pub filling his ears. He retraced their conversation quickly before she had the chance to notice her closeness driving him up the wall.

"I'm Fred Weasley, love. I'm always in danger."

The moment was safely broken as Hermione leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. "Why did I suspect you'd say anything different?"

Rita sat back down in her barstool again, sliding a half-empty glass of Butterbeer towards Hermione as she downed one of her two shots of Firewhiskey. "You would think Valentine's Day would mean a place like this would be empty, wouldn't you?"

"Are you in danger?" Fred asked, repeating her own question back to her as Rita quickly downed her second shot within a minute as she tapped her emerald green quill on lightly stained parchment, looking around the pub for what he could only assume would be mindless gossip to fill her articles.

"I'll be fine, thank you. We've got an understanding of each other, actually." Hermione said quietly as she eyed the empty glasses with disgust. 

He felt uncomfortable leaving her with the dishevelled witch, especially as she eyed the two of them talking.

"I'll be fine, you go back to Lee and your brother." Hermione said with bravado. He had the sneakiest of suspicions that she didn’t want Skeeter knowing which twin he was, but for once he was fine with the slight anonymity being an identical twin gave him. Bad press before they opened shop might prove terrible for business, after all.

Tendrils of cold air met him as he stood up straight again, and he could see through the bustle of students that Luna Lovegood had entered the bar and was now drying herself from the rain. He felt better about leaving now that she wouldn't be completely alone, but Luna wasn't much of a defence, either. 

"I'll be fine." Hermione repeated, sensing his hesitation.

He tapped the top of the table as he made to leave, giving Skeeter a nod in farewell. Before he could stop himself, he reached out for Hermione, landing his hand on her shoulder. 

His earlier assumption wasn't wrong. The subtle warmth was still there, comforting his hand before making its way throughout the rest of his body. Hermione was either unaware or a very good actress as she gave him a quick smile before shrugging him off to wave Luna over.

Not one to overstay his welcome, he followed George's earlier path through the bar to try and find where Lee had been sitting. He eventually heard Lee's voice breaking through the crowd and saw him as soon as he turned in the direction of his voice. He would've been in direct eyesight of Hermione's table if there hadn't been a wall separating the two of them from either end of the pub. 

He began making his way towards the table as he moved through the still-growing crowd within the pub. As a group of Slytherins blocked his path as they strode towards the fireplace, he took the moment to turn back to Hermione without realising…

…and caught her watching him leave. 

He was too far away to tell if her skin had turned pink, but he knew she knew he’d caught her. Butterflies of embarrassment flew around his stomach even though he felt anything but embarrassed. Maybe she really _was_ a good actress and _had_ felt what he felt. That would make life easier in the future if she was already sensing the effects of what he assumed was their Link.

He caught himself smiling at her from across the pub, and thankfully she smiled back before greeting Luna. His path to his table was again clear and he set off, but before he passed the wall separating the two of them he turned his head towards her table again. 

She was talking to Luna who had filled the seat he’d vacated, and he could see her profile as she tucked the frizz of her loose hair behind her ear as she took a sip from her Butterbeer. Her eyes wandered from the top of her glass, nearly instantly meeting his. 

He allowed the Ravenclaw boys in front of him to vacate their table, giving him an extra moment to look towards her as they filled the space with their seats before tucking them back in. Hermione put down her glass and licked the remaining drops of liquid from her lips subconsciously, and he was grateful that he wasn’t as close as he’d been before when she did that, because it instantly brought out thoughts about Granger he’d never had before. He swallowed hard to retain his thoughts and nodded at her, and he was surprised to see a shy smile spread lightly across her face. 

Luna must’ve said something strange because he watched Hermione jump as if she had been in a sort of trance. He took the moment to take long strides towards Lee and George, because who knew what would happen if he looked at her again. 

He was going absolutely mental, and he needed to sort himself out, fast.


	8. Chapter 7: The Plans

A/N: Hi everyone, I hope you're all staying safe and healthy in this mad new world we're in! This chapter is severely late due to my essential job and all the stress that brings, so apologies! I'd also like to quickly mention that the things Fred thinks or what we see from his perspective might be a bit repetitive. I'm trying to keep this as real as possible, even though it is a work of fiction. Fred is human and humans tend to overthink certain things and under think others. With something as stressful as finding out he is Linked to someone - especially considering the current political climate he's finding himself in _and_ after his father being attacked at Christmas - I can certainly see him trying to consider all possibilities to make the best possible choice in the end. If you don't agree, feel free to add some constructive criticism in the reviews or in my private messages!

* * *

"Can we still classify something as a 'practical joke' if the big finale ends up being murder?"

The half-filled Gryffindor common room went quiet at George's bold words. Usually there would be no need for alarm, but Fred guessed that his tone of voice paired with his harsh body language as he fell onto the sofa next to his made the students around them uneasy to be around him. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry certainly looked taken aback. If it wasn't for George's mood he would've laughed at the spectrum of shock on their faces, with Ginny looking barely concerned to Harry looking like he wanted to go straight for his wand in defence.

"What did she do now?"

"Gave me detention with Filch for 'loitering excessively in deserted hallways', the absolute cow!"

"Umbridge?"

George looked at Ron with a murderous gaze. "Who else would give out detentions for waiting for a mate to finish pissing? I was right next to the bathroom door too, but she still didn't believe I was waiting for Lee."

"I think a few - no, all of the teachers would be suspicious of you hanging around in empty hallways," Ginny said with a smirk, "especially without that one in sight."

"I think I resent that." Fred said as he kept an eye on his twin. "When's the detention?"

George sank lower into his armchair as he stared at the detailed ceiling. "The first one is tomorrow night; apparently Filch already has a booking with a group of second year Hufflepuffs that were running around after hours playing Exploding Snap."

"But tomorrow night we were going to-"

"I know! Believe me, I know, and I'm fuming." George said with an apologetically forlorn look his way. They'd been planning on spending at least 10 hours of the next day and night on product development due to their tiny schedules. "If it helps my next detention is scheduled for Monday night."

"How does that help?" Fred asked.

"I have no idea how she did it, but I think she forgot for a mo' that she's already given me a lifelong Quidditch ban? Got no other ideas for why she'd smirk for a Monday night detention other than thinking I'd have to skip training. I think she's going delirious with power."

"Or she thinks that you're Polyjuicing yourselves into Kirke and Sloper," Harry added with an air of lingering resentment. "Would make sense to give you a detention for Monday if that's what she thinks you two are doing."

"Is that one of her theories?" Ron asked. "Doesn't make sense, does it? Hasn't she seen the lack of improvement from the team?"

"Oi! Katie's doing a great job, so are Ange and Alicia. S'the three of you that need work."

Ginny looked at George expectantly.

"Oh, you're alright Gin, not worried about you."

Ginny huffed as she moved loose hairs away from her eyes. "Gee, thanks, George! Good to know you believe in your only sister."

"I said you were alright, didn't I?" George reminded her as he sat up properly. "Besides, don't want to inflate your ego so much that you can't fit through the portrait hole for training."

"Mhmmm." Ginny nodded as she sunk further into the back of the sofa next to Ron, tilting her head back at a sharp angle to rest on the top of the sofa. "Wouldn't be a good idea for me _and_ Harry to not be able to play, we'd have to watch Ron flail around miserably for even longer before my replacement caught the Snitch."

"Sod off, Ginny! I'm not _that_ shite -"

"Ron, we all know you play perfectly well when you're not being sung at or taunted." Hermione said as she looked up from her textbook on the sofa next to Ron and Ginny's. "Don't put yourself down like that, you'll just make your nerves worse."

Fred had a perfectly good view of Hermione from his end of the wide curve the sofas made around the fire in the Common Room, and he could see how his youngest brother perked up slightly from her compliment. She was sitting with an elbow propped up on the arm of the two-person sofa as she read from her heavy-looking Arithmancy textbook. Her legs were tucked around her body, leaving her knees exposed to the homey comfort the fire was producing, and her hair was straining against the bun she'd made earlier in a vain attempt to keep it from blocking her view of her book.

Harry shifted from his spot next to her on their two-seater, rearranging his bare feet to distribute the warmth radiating from the fire. The topic of Quidditch made him as bent out of shape as he and George - perhaps even more so considering how much drama and shite he had in his life compared to him and his brother - and he fought to change topics whenever the sport came up.

"Where is Lee, anyway?" Harry asked as he finally found a comfortable position on the sofa.

"No idea." George sighed as he too stretched out next to Fred. "I tried to speak loudly so he could hear me being sent away, so I hope he's hiding out in the lav's with the Baby Bludgers he had on him."

"He had the prototypes on him?" Fred asked, now much more alert than before and trying to convince himself that he wasn't staring at Hermione _again_.

George's eyes darkened again as he nodded and glanced towards the portrait hole disappointedly , as if it had swung open silently and Lee had come in without anyone noticing.

"If they get confiscated I'll wring his neck." Fred said with certainty as he looked towards the Common Room entrance as well.

"What's a Baby Bludger?" Ron asked uneasily.

Ginny looked towards Fred with the same hesitance as Ron. "You might want to stay away from Mum if you've made something that hits babies."

"Why in Merlin's beard would we make something that hits babies?" George asked his siblings incredulously. "What a stupid idea!"

"Baby Bludgers are the same as Quidditch Bludgers - obviously - but they're small and soft," Fred explained as he tried to remember the exact enchantments they'd placed on the prototypes. He was pretty sure they'd written them down in the Laugh's Log, but sometimes they got carried away and didn't remember to write things down until it was too late. "The best injury you could get is a sore eye or groin if it hits you in the right -wrong - spot."

"And it's had enough time and uninterrupted space to really charge at you." George tacked on helpfully.

Ron leaned forward on the sofa in interest. "What were you gonna do with them?"

"We were gonna look for Mrs. Norris and send them her way since she's small and quick, y'know, to test how long our charms would last." George said without hesitation.

Fred could tell that that was an incredibly stupid thing to say in present company as Hermione's eyes flickered over the both of them as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Please do not tell me that you were going to traumatise a poor, innocent animal to test some ill-conceived idea for a joke." Hermione said admonishingly.

"They weren't going to let it hit her," Fred added hastily as he chanced a look at Hermione, noting her grip on her book had grown a lot tighter in the past few seconds. "We've kept the safety charms on while it's in the testing phase, it would've bounced around her and let them see how it moved in the air with an unpredictable target is all."

"We don't want to get expelled for hurting anyone, and no, not because it would be bad for business, but because we're not heartless." George said.

"Well, good." Hermione said as she stretched her tense fingers, balancing her book between her thumb and pointer finger as she did.

"But it's Mrs. Norris!" Ron complained. "You know she's a nightmare _and_ she's Filch's cat, who cares if a ball follows her around and taps her on the tail a few times."

Hermione looked at Ron with a dangerous stare for half a moment before closing her eyes and breathing deeply. "I don't care _whose_ cat it is, Ron, an animal can't consent to anything."

"Could just run away though, couldn't it?" Harry asked innocently from her other side. Fred watched as Hermione's hair flopped dangerously in its bun as she turned to glare at Harry and felt sorry for the poor bloke. Learning what to do and say around women was always learnt the hard way, especially if what Ron had let slip about his kiss with Chang before Christmas was true. Ginny looked towards him with her lips pursed and eyes wide, waiting for Hermione's reaction.

"That's a brilliant idea!" Fred half-shouted in an attempt to stop the gnawing bubbles of irritation from popping inside of him. He chalked it up to Lee's unknown state of being as the group around the fire looked towards him expectantly.

"What's a good idea?" Ginny questioned.

He racked his brain for ideas so quickly that he was surprised his hair wasn't moving in the wind of his mind. "A, er, a pet collar."

"A pet collar?" Ron snorted.

Fred cocked his head towards Ron and repeated him in a mocking tone. His brother's shout of indignation gave him an extra two ticks to think. "It would be a bit shite if Mrs. Norris wasn't so clever, wouldn't it? For Filch anyway, not for us. He can't Summon her or use a spell to find her again, so what would he do if he lost her or needed to find her quickly?"

"A collar with a Summoning charm embedded into it?" George asked, stretching his legs out in front of him in jumpy movements as he joined Fred's train of thought. George would often pace as they came up with ideas, whereas Fred would rather tap the feathered end of a quill to expend energy.

"No, a Summoning charm would be too painful for the animal if it went wrong." Fred pondered, now actually somewhat invested in his thought devised to distract the blowout between the little Golden Trio.

"Then I don't have a solution at the mo', but I'll write it down for later. Anyone got a parchment and quill?"

Ginny lazily pointed to her discarded homework lying on the floor next to her crossed ankles as she kept her eyes shut and enjoyed the heat of the fire. George pointed his wand towards the pile and _Accio_ ed a blank piece of parchment and a quill set towards him, dipping the quill into the ink as soon as it met his hand. Fred watched as he wrote 'animal collar' in his messy-yet-legible handwriting near the top left corner of the page, circling it and writing 'Summoning charm?' above it, connecting the two phrases with a line.

"Muggles just use phone numbers on their pet collars," Harry commented idly as Hermione returned to her book. "One phone call and you've basically used a Summoning charm on the human instead."

"Those things are rubbish though!" Ron said, obviously thinking about his singular use of the telephone years prior.

Ginny smirked as she looked at Ron. "Only when you're an idiot."

Ron reached out with a fist and attacked Ginny with a fist, letting years of experience dealing with sibling quarrels determine an adequate amount of force for the insult delivered. Ginny didn't hesitate to kick him in the shin from her advantageous position next to him, and once Ron had another swing at Ginny they went back to normal, minus an unfriendly glare each.

"They're not too bad," Harry commented as if the mini scuffle had never happened, showing his obvious understanding of the finer aspects of sibling relationships without true participation. "Not that I've ever got to use one properly with the Dursley's."

George's body nearly leapt of its chair next to Fred, almost giving him a heart attack. He leant the parchment against his knee, furiously writing in now-unreadable penmanship. "Hermione, you're a genius!"

Hermione looked up from her book again with a vaguely confused expression on her face. "What have I done now, exactly?"

"You made the Galleons, for the D.A!" George cried out while beaming, then looking down and continuing to scribble over what Fred considered to be a fine bit of parchment before George got a hold of it.

"I did, but I don't understand how that helps make a phone call." she answered with a furrowed brow and looking over George with a concerned expression.

Her eyes met his with a question of his brothers' sanity within them, and he could only shrug and shake his head back at her. Hermione's eyes stayed on his for a moment longer before she looked back to George.

"Harry, sorry to say it mate, but your cat's gone missing." George said suddenly, finishing his notes and looking at Harry.

"S'alright, George. I don't have a cat."

"Prick." George said, then turned to his sister. "Right. Gin, Tibbles is missing - you're distraught, you haven't seen him in two days. Haven't slept a wink."

"I've been crying for hours." Ginny added solemnly.

"Suck's, doesn't it? Not knowing where he is, when he'll be home, if he's been eating. But, hang on, what's that sound? It's coming from your bedroom, but no one else is home! What is it, Fred?"

"Surely not Tibbles?" Fred asked, no idea where George was going.

"Sadly not. But, wait a minute, that's not the Feline Finder buzzing on your dresser, is it Gin?"

Ginny - apparently getting into character as an aristocratic woman from the early 1900's - flung a hand to her heart and cried, "Surely not!"

"Madame, it is!" George cried, holding up a parchment of what now looked like a maze a child decided to try and complete without lifting their quill and got lost many times on the way. "Someone has found Tibbles! And better yet, this mysterious stranger can recognise magical symbols and has tapped their wand to his tag dangling from his collar. Now you have his exact location within your Feline Finder, ready to Apparate to at a moment's notice!"

"But sir!" Ginny said with trepidation, "I cannot Apparate! I am but a humble and young woman!"

"Who cares! Get an adult! Fred, I think this could work really well if we get some proper testing done." George said, snapping out of the fantasy and turning to Fred.

"Sounds like a hell of a lot of work to get it right." Fred said warily. It was a good idea, he could acknowledge that. The problem he had was that it was time taken away from humorous products, and had they not signed a lease to a building in Diagon Alley for a joke shop? Yes, it was his idea to start with, but that was to change conversation and stop Hermione from getting upset. If nothing had come from it, then so be it.

"We'll chuck it in the Log and keep it on the backburner then." George nodded, rolling the parchment carefully. "Maybe it'll stop Mum from losing her mind if we had a range that was a bit more tasteful than tricks and deceit."

"Yeah, might stop Mum from shitting kittens when she walks in to your shop and sees some kids playing with chapstick that glues your lips stuck." Ginny added thoughtfully.

"Chapstick that…George -"

Fred hadn't needed to call on his brother to write the idea down as he was already unfurling the parchment and readying his quill. Ginny looked more than pleased with herself and sat back with a content grin. With a warning she added, "I expect to be paid handsomely for that if I ever see it for sale!"

"Or we use it on you first so you can't demand it?" George quipped as he dipped the quill into the ink pot.

" _Or_ I practice my Bat Bogey Hex nonverbally on two willing participants?" Ginny retorted with a sickly-sweet voice. Fred threw his hands up in defeat on behalf of both of them as George finished his writing and waved a hand over the ink to get it to dry.

Hermione's head snapped up from her book and looked between him and George. "That would be great for the D.A, at least when we get into the harder stuff."

"What, are you planning on teaching us nonverbal magic already?" Ron asked, bewildered. "That's serious stuff, Hermione, even if you can already do a bit of it. I doubt the younger kids could wrap their heads around it."

"I know that," Hermione replied, sounding as if she was repressing a sigh in his general direction. "But if we're stuck with that horrible excuse for a professor past September I think we might have to consider it for students our age. That is of course, if you can make it?"

Hermione had direct the last question to him and George, and they both nodded with certainty. The cogs in Fred's head were already churning out different ideas for how they could make a salve or a paste that would wear off after a time, or a separate product that was an antidote like their Skiving Snackboxes.

Harry spluttered next to Hermione, leaving him coughing with a disgusted look on his face. Hermione quickly _Accio_ ed a cup from the tray near the fireplace and filled it with water from her wand before passing it to Harry. Ginny and George had joined Fred in mild alarm while Ron while Ron simply looked confused.

"The hell are you doing, mate?" Ron asked as Harry calmed down enough to take a large gulp of the water offered to him. Although it stopped him from coughing, the disgusted looked remained etched on his face.

He turned to Hermione, who also looked concerned (rightfully so, in Fred's mind. The boy was acting bonkers). "Might not be a good idea to introduce them to that glue from primary school."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Hermione asked, perplexed. She looked at Harry as though she was about to lean over and check his temperature with the back of her hand.

"Well _you_ probably never did it, but were you ever forced to sit next to the kid that would wipe the glue all over his hand and-"

" _Harry!_ " Hermione moaned with revolution as her face mirrored his expression. "That's disgusting!"

Ginny was the one to break the Muggle talk. "One of you is going to have to explain to us what you're on about."

"In Muggle schools, just primary schools I think, there's this glue -"

"Imagine it on your _lips!_ " Harry said, cutting Hermione off effectively as she looked as if she wanted to chuck up herself. Hermione Summoned another glass from the tray and filled it with water for herself, gesturing for Harry to continue.

He turned to face the four Weasley's sitting around the fire. "There's this glue the teachers give you at primary school for your arts and crafts, yeah? But you, and it's really disgusting if you think about it, but you can put it all over your hands and then when it dries you try and peel off as much of it as you can without it breaking, or they'd stick their hands together really tightly and try and get it off without another kid having to get scissors to help them cut it off. At the end of some lessons there'd be piles of dried glue that kids had peeled from themselves, and then Ginny and Hermione were talking about sticking lips shut, and it made me think of putting it on your lips to stop you from doing nonverbal spells."

The four Weasley siblings sat on their respective couches looking stunned at Harry's recollections of his childhood. Hermione, however, was next to him, Arithmancy book now forgotten on her lap as she tried to get her emotions back in check but not failing to fall back into a look of horrid loathing.

"You really didn't have the best childhood, did you?" Fred asked to break the silence that had fallen. Harry grinned sheepishly back at Fred, a sight that was becoming rarer as the year dragged on.

Hermione didn't hesitate to refill her small cup with more water. "That's disgusting, Harry. I can't think of anything worse! And it's true, you know." she said as an afterthought, turning to look at Fred and his siblings. The constant movement had forced Hermione's bun to fall to the right side of her head, and she put her cup down on the table as she reached up with both hands to untie it and started to rewrap it on the top of her head.

"There was always one person who'd be banned from using the glue because they'd used it all the lesson before sticking their knees together. I remember sitting next to one boy who was putting it on the back of his hand in layers and when the teacher finally caught him he started to cry because he couldn't finish making his volcano on his hand." Hermione recounted, scrunching up her nose in distaste.

Ron and Ginny burst into laughter at the thought of Hermione trapped to a crying boy covered in glue and asked her more questions about the obviously jarring experience while Harry listened with boyish delight at her discomfort.

"Maybe we should talk to Harry and Hermione more about Muggle stuff for idea, y'know?" George asked as he leaned over to Fred.

Fred made a noise of approval as George turned back to the parchment and wrote a few more words. He would've joined in if he wasn't so enraptured in watching Hermione try and corral her hair into a neat pile on her head. Strands were falling out on one side as her fingers tried to comb through the other, her hands obviously too small for the thick and wild curls that didn't want to play nicely. He wondered if it felt as soft as it looked.

"Keep staring and you're going to have to spit more bullshit from the top of your head to explain yourself." George muttered in warning as he leaned over again.

Fred's eyes unconsciously looked towards Ron, using him as a way to get Hermione out of his head as he had for the past few months. Nothing killed wisps of daydreams like thinking about his brother's place in their predicament.

"You lot got any other Muggle things we could experiment with?" George asked the two non-siblings of the group. Harry shook his head but Hermione eyes drifted towards the staircase of the girl's dormitory.

"I can have a look upstairs if you want? I doubt I'd have much that I don't need but I can check." Hermione offered.

"S'alright." Fred said, flashing a quick smile of appreciation her way before looking (again) at Ron when she gave a small smile back. "What's your favourite thing in the world, Ron?"

Ron let out a prolonged sigh as he considered the question. "I dunno, Quidditch? Chocolate?"

"You're so boring," Ginny snickered from next to him on the couch. "Give you a Chocolate Frog and you'll grin for an hour."

"'Least I'm easy to buy for," Ron conceded. "A pyramid of Chocolate Frogs and I'm yours for the taking."

Ginny scrunched up her face. "Remind me never to give you a pyramid of Chocolate Frogs then."

"Sod off, Ginevra."

"Make me, _Ronald_."

" _What if_ ," Fred called out over their rising voices, "we did something with the wrapper? Chocolate Frogs already have a card in them, but if we enchant the wrapper on something else -"

"-not the Skiving Snacks though -" George interrupted quickly.

"- no, we don't wanna mess up the Snacks, but we could Charm the wrappers on other things, couldn't we?"

"Could make them rip themselves into little pieces? That would be annoying to clean up, especially if they can't use magic at home."

'Yeah, like your tie during the D.A. meeting!" Ginny said happily in agreement. "I'd actually give Ron a pyramid of Chocolate Frogs for his birthday if I could wrap it in paper that rips after you open it, it'd be brilliant!"

Fred reached out for George's mess of parchment and added in one of the few blank spaces left, 'Ripping Paper - wrapping that shreds itself.'. No-one spoke as he wrote, and the air had become slightly thicker with tension as Ginny's first comment sunk in.

Their duel had taken on the properties of legend over the past two months. Since it wasn't something students in the group could discuss openly thanks to Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad, members of the D.A. could only discuss it quietly amongst themselves. And, as things tended to do at Hogwarts, the story had become convoluted with seemingly innocent additions that made the story extra thrilling than it already was. Spells ricocheting off each other were rare, but he and Hermione had met spells several times. He'd had one of the Creevy brothers ask him if it was planned - much more thoroughly than Harry had asked on the night in question - and he knew from Lee and George that others considered it a teaching ploy. Eyes flashed between the two of them whenever Harry had asked people to partner up in subsequent lessons, but George never attempted to pair him and Granger up again, mostly because of Ron.

He heard that after the three of them went up to bed that Ron accused Hermione of a range of different and, quite frankly, mad things. Most of the information was from Neville the next day over breakfast when he too had asked about the authenticity of the duel, and he'd recapped that Ron had accused her of trying to embarrass him (not true), working with Harry secretly without telling him (probably not true), meeting with Fred in secret to practice dueling (definitely not true), and most absurd of all, was now working with him and George to take over running the D.A. (quite frankly, ridiculously untrue).

Neville's recount of the argument included Hermione's increasingly confused responses to his allegations until the final one, which at that point had commented that the meeting had left her drained and that she hoped he had calmed down by the morning before bidding him and Harry goodnight. The subject of the D.A. meeting that almost become taboo between the six of them around the fireplace to avoid any more awkwardness and arguments.

They had been right to avoid it apparently. Fred continued to look down at the parchment while using his peripheral vision to watch Ron switch between glaring at him and at Hermione. The lady in question had returned to her Arithmancy tome and appeared to be reading intently, but her tense body and clenched fingers suggested she wasn't paying attention to everything within its pages. Harry and Ginny had quietly taken up fiddling with whatever bits of fabric were nearby, and George had leaned over to examine his mess of writing with him.

The air lay thick between the groups for moments that felt like eternity. Fred was desperate to break the tension with some smartass comment, but he knew how Ron would react. He knew George already felt a tad guilty for causing all the commotion in the first place by partnering them up, so he couldn't rely on him to ease the pressure. He could only guess how Hermione felt as she turned a page of her book and mentally prayed to whoever was Above that she could remember the fun she'd had during the duel rather than the reaction of a jealous git.

The noises of the Common Room around them began to fill his ears as he begged for distraction, but the light murmurings of younger students studying together and the portrait hole swinging open gave him nothing to comment on wittily and save them from discomfort. The best he could hope for was -

"Jordan!" George called heartily as Lee made his way towards the ring of couches around the fireplace. The entire group watched him plop himself on the arm of George's armchair and shake George's hand with a grin before repeating with Fred.

"Where the _hell_ have you been? You've been gone ages!" George asked in amazement.

Lee only gave a knowing grin in response to George's question. "Why don't we start with the million Galleon question, lads?"

"You've got them, then?" Fred asked, correctly reading Lee's exuberance. Lee opened his robe to reveal the drawstring bag hiding beneath and pulled the opening apart, revealing all four Baby Bludgers he and George had set out to test.

George cried out his joy as he punched Lee lovingly while Fred pulled one out of the bag to inspect. The ball, about four inches in diameter and coloured exactly like their iron counterparts, was in pristine condition. He squeezed it tightly within his fingers before pulling his wand out of his pocket and deactivating it before it went flying around the room. He clapped Lee on the back from where he was sitting and muttered his thanks to him for keeping them safe from Umbridge.

'Let me tell you both, she is an absolute _nightmare_. She was outside the door for at least ten minutes before I heard footsteps moving away, and when I went to open the door I thought I heard something right outside and I could hear breathing!"

"She pretended to walk away from the bathroom door?" Harry asked with disgust.

Lee shot a look towards Fred and George, asking permission to share his adventures and potentially confidential business ideas. They both nodded for him to continue - they knew no-one there would blab to anyone.

"She did! I was stuck in the bathroom for twenty minutes before I could escape, and even then I went the long way round in case she'd sent a Squad member after me."

Harry scowled from his spot on the sofa next to Hermione, who Fred noted dropped all pretense of reading her book to watch and listen to the conversation. "I can't believe she just stood there for twenty minutes."

"Neither can I, mate," Lee agreed. "But she did, and the temptation of opening the door and sending one of these after her was nearly too much, but this lot -" he gestured to both twins with his thumbs, "- would kill me."

"Kill is a strong word." said George.

"Maybe slightly dismember would be better." Fred added.

"But they're here and they're safe." Lee said with an air of pride. "Untested but intact and waiting for their first victims."

Ginny looked at the Baby Bludger in Fred's hand for a moment. "Give me a few Galleons and I'll jump on a broom for you."

"They're not that fast, Gin. We'd probably end up killing someone if they hit them on the side of the head at that speed." Fred replied.

Ginny shrugged. "I'll go down to the Quidditch Pitch with you anyway and try and run from them if you want?"

Fred looked over to George who had a slight smirk on his face. Watching Ginny try to outrun something trying to barrel into her?

"I'll give you an extra Galleon if I can take pictures." George offered.

"Deal." Ginny said without hesitation. "Just not tonight, I have to finish six more inches on my Potions essay."

"Good idea," Lee said with a grateful sigh. "I don't think my heart can take having these out in the open for a few more days."

"Too right." George murmured in agreement as he took the bag from Lee and inspected a Baby Bludger himself.

Lee turned to say something to Fred but noticed the parchment on his lap. He raised his eyebrow in question and Fred consented, handing him the parchment.

'Woah…" Lee said as he looked at the flurry of writing. "Been brainstorming while I've been hiding out in the loo's?"

"With the help of this lot." Fred said as he gestured to the two pairs around the fire. "Their fully-Muggle upbringing might come in handy."

"I'm guessing you came up with a 'glue volcano', Potter?"

Ron snorted before laughing quietly next to Ginny who was grinning madly. Fred was relieved to see that he'd worked himself out of his funk with the duel being brought up, for now at least.

"That was me, actually." Hermione offered with a resounding lack of enthusiasm. "I was telling them about a boy I was forced to sit next to in my Muggle school."

"That explains nothing and I love it already." Lee laughed. "I bet you didn't sit next to him for much longer!"

Fred watched as Hermione's cheeks lit up gently with a blush. "I may have asked to move my permanent seat at the end of the lesson."

"And ever since you've been around amazingly classy boys like those two!" Ginny said with obvious joy at her own wit. Harry volunteered a slightly embarrassed grin while Ron shot Ginny a dirty look.

George stood from where he was sitting and retrieved the last Bludger from Fred before shutting the bag carefully. "Now that Lee's safe and sound I'm going to head up and add those notes to the Log. You staying or coming up?"

"Coming!" Lee said as he stood from the armchair. "Thought of a few modifications to the Baby Bludgers while I was hiding out. Fred?"

"I'll come up unless anyone else has an amazing idea?" Fred said to the remainder of the group still sitting. As he looked between his two younger siblings he was suddenly hit with an odd feeling of upcoming nostalgia. It was already mid-March, and by the time July came about they'd be out of Hogwarts for good, whether graduating with three top marks each or with a passing grade between them. Sure, they'd see each other outside of Hogwarts being family and all, but it wouldn't be exactly the same, would it?

Ron and Ginny were shaking their heads as he snapped out of his introspective thoughts. He quickly swiveled around to where Hermione and Harry were sitting, and if he wasn't mistaken he'd caught Hermione staring at him. Startled, she looked towards her book and shook her head, letting her hair bounce around on the top of her head in her already-loose-again bun. He looked at her for a moment longer to see if she'd explain, but she stubbornly refused to look away from her text. A growing feeling of being caught was taking over him, but he wasn't the one that had been caught, was he?

He vaguely saw Harry shaking his head next to her and quickly bade the group goodnight before following George and Lee towards the dormitory staircase. If Lee wasn't there he'd be demanding George rehash every single conversation they'd already had about the pros and cons of telling Hermione about their Link, because he was starting to get caught up in his own head again. As it were, Lee _was_ with them, so he could only have the debate in his head. _To tell her or not to tell her, that is the question._

The debate was already raging on within his mind before he'd even made it to the staircase, and the temptation to invite her up to his bed, shut the curtains around his bed and seal them with magic before telling her everything was enough to make him stop walking up the stairs for a moment altogether. Curiously, the shot of adrenaline and thrilling anxiety grew within him again as if he was caught doing… _something_ …but he was only walking up the stairs, right?

Managing to make it the entire way up the staircase without bolting back down to talk to Hermione, he crashed onto his bed as Lee and George spoke amongst themselves on Lee's bed. The Laughs Log was between them as George transferred the notes on the parchment into it, and Fred prayed that it was neater now that George could write down the ideas without losing them in his mind.

Maybe he could use Hermione's Muggle upbringing to gather some more ideas for the shop as an excuse to spend more time with her. Maybe he'd have to spend more time with Ron to work out exactly how he felt about Hermione. Maybe he'd have to talk to his Dad like he promised Hermione he would just to have another outside opinion of the matter guide him into the right direction. Maybe he could even ask Dumbledore for advice?

Dumbledore might be a bit far, he reflected. A need-to-know basis was probably for the best, considering Hermione herself didn't know. He realised very quickly that thinking like that only repeated the cycle of doubt and guilt he was already in, so he sat up and joined Lee and George on the bed to add to the Laughs Log and explain the 'glue volcano' Hermione had described.

Nothing could go wrong by not telling her for now, right?

* * *

A/N: Thank you all for submitting ideas! The ones I didn't use have been put on the backburner - my future chapters need ideas too! I hope being in Fred's mind is fresh for everyone - I always seem to find things from Hermione's P.O.V and Fred (and George) have such potential to be explored!

Again, sorry for the late chapter, and they're probably going to be spread apart by a month or so from now on - teaching is hard!


	9. Chapter 8: The Support

A/N: I'm back! 2020 was a crazy, crazy year, huh? Updates will be sporadic from now on as I have my final assignment due (as if being out of university for over a year and working in my field wasn't enough!) but the story is definitely not abandoned. Thank god each chapter already has a draft/idea, otherwise I'd be lost!

I've re-read the story before I started working on this chapter. Since this story is aligned with the canon story wherever possible, I read the actual plot alongside writing this. After six months away I've realised that it's a tad confusing to read, especially since I don't like putting direct quotes from the book in, but…sometimes I guess they're needed. Forgive me for some confusing chapters, and I'll try to keep my own constructive critiscm in mind. Anything from the original series will be underlined

* * *

Their haul was good this year. Turning eighteen didn't have the same amount of flair in the wizarding world as he knew it did in the Muggle world, but they'd still done alright for themselves. Being a twin meant that many of Fred and George's possessions were shared, however their birthday was one of the few days where they were acknowledged as being two separate people.

The moment they had awoken on the first of April (the moment George started jumping on him yelling about presents, more like it) they had begun to rip into the substantial pile of gifts waiting at the foot of their beds. Tradition of years past meant they opened presents from parents first, then from siblings in order from eldest to youngest. From their parents, they'd each received a card with an attached drawstring bag with five Galleons inside, as well as the customary clothing a mother would always buy for their children.

Bill had sent each of them a book, and while Fred wasn't particularly interested in the gift before it was unwrapped, he felt a sense of gratitude towards his eldest brother once he'd read the title. George had simply grinned at Fred's copy of Goblins and Gold: How to Negotiate within Gringotts, while Fred nodded thoughtfully at George's copy of Money -Making for the Young Wizard and Witch. Two books that would help them get their brick and mortar store off the ground, and both under one hundred and fifty pages. Bill certainly knew them well.

Charlie had sent them the first twelve issues of the comics, Darius: Îmblânzitorul Dragonului, giving George the odd-numbered issues and Fred the even-numbered. A note was attached to each bundle of comics explaining that Bill had told him all about the twins' endeavours into their business and his expectation that they'd find a way to translate the most popular wizarding comic from Romania if they put their heads together. If not, the note had said, they'd have some pretty pictures of Darius: the Tamer of the Dragons to look at. George had laughed at the note and placed his set of comics to the growing pile around him.

Shocking to nobody, Percy hadn't sent a gift. No gift was better than anything he could've sent, anyway.

Ron and Ginny had apparently decided to team up on their presents to the twins, with both of them receiving a new set of Beater's gloves. While the irony of not being able to use them for their final year of schooling was not lost on either of the pair, Ginny's cheeky note of "protection for your hands in case anything (or anyone) needs to be Beaten outside of Quidditch!" made the pair smirk to each other. Fred would've bet to anyone else in the room that George was picturing the same lovely image as him - wearing a set of dashing new gloves as they stole their Beater's bats back from where they'd been locked up and using them on a toad-like creature.

Harry had been given explicit instruction by the twins themselves to never buy them a gift right after he'd donated his Triwizard Tournament earnings to them. In keeping up with his penchant for breaking rules, Harry had given each of them a Muggle book, with Fred's focusing on "foolproof" magic tricks and George's concentrating on the fine art of Muggle pranks. Fred flicked through the book quickly before finding an inscription from The-Boy-Who-Refused-To-Conk-It, stating "Dear Fred, here's a peek of the competition from the other side of Diagon Alley. From, Harry." Short, but to the point.

George looked at his twin from the middle of the present and wrapping paper heap he'd created in his excitement to open everything. "Is it just me, or did we get a lot more reading material this year than we usually get?"

"We should've never let anyone knew we could read," Fred said as he looked at the stack of reading materials he'd amassed next to him in a slightly neater pile than George's whirlwind of gifts. "I guess this is what happens to a bloke as he gets older".

"Right, all the fun stuff to celebrate turning seventeen and then you get to spend the rest of eternity with a book pressed to your nose." George joked as he began to Vanish bits of wrapping paper. "At least the books we got are useful, yeah?"

"Too right," Fred agreed as he looked over the book Bill had gotten them again. Even though they'd gotten the building in Diagon Alley for their business, it'd still be handy to have some tips about how to deal with the goblins at Gringotts in case they were ever in need of expanding whatever it is they were getting into.

"Oi, what's this one, Gred?" George asked, snapping Fred out of his reading.

George had pushed over a large box wrapped in unassuming gift wrap. The envelope on top simply stated "Fred and George" in unfamiliar but neat handwriting. Fred gestured for George to open the envelope, seeing as he was the one that actually spotted the box. With little grace, he opened the envelope and began to read out loud.

_"Dear Fred and George;_

_Happy eighteenth birthday! I know we've never really exchanged gifts before, but seeing as it's your last year at Hogwarts I figured there was little harm in giving you something small. I appreciate that it may be frustrating to receive shared gifts being twins and all, but hopefully there's enough in the box to keep you both entertained until the end of the school year - and so that I won't have to dock House Points from my own house. I asked my Mum to go to the local Poundland (a cheap Muggle store that has heaps of different items) and spend my allowance on the most mundane and weirdest things she could find, so please forgive me if there's anything a bit too strange in there. Fingers crossed you can come up with some ideas for products based on what's in there. Enjoy!_

_Love;_

_Hermione._

P.S: I've included some of the glue Harry was talking about a few weeks ago. Please don't use it near me, I don't need the memories."

Fred laughed as he recalled Hermione's queasiness when telling everyone about the glue volcano. George grinned back, clearly remembering the same thing. "Shall we?"

"," said Fred, ripping the neat grey wrapping paper with abandon before using a Slicing Charm on the tape keeping the box shut. The box, which Fred guessed would fit around twelve of their Skiving Snackboxes, was filled to its brim with wonderfully Muggle products. Many of the items he had never seen or heard of before, but there were a couple of things he could only guess were the Muggle equivalent of wizard's inventions.

They spent the next five minutes pulling out each item one at a time and laughing at the things Muggles came up with without magic. Fred deemed the scented pens odd but appreciated not having to dip a quill in ink every sentence or spending an extra three sickles on a self-inking quill. George spent nearly a full minute scratching his head with what looked like a terrible wire Christmas Tree but was described on the box as a scalp massager. He couldn't fathom why Muggles would want jokes written on their toilet paper, however George was too busy slipping on socks designed (poorly) to look like a dog's paws on them to listen to his concerns. Fred reached for the Laughs Log as George slapped a novelty bandage on his forehead, writing down "branded bandages in dangerous packs" with a strawberry-scented pen. The Log was snatched out of his hand by George after picking up a packet of colourful straws bent in strange directions, but Fred was too busy examining something called a "Carry Cup" to care. Soon there were only fifteen minutes left to get breakfast before class. Knowing that Lee preferred to put on a grand show rather than giving them a physical gift, they quickly but carefully attempted to cram their gifts from Hermione back into the box before racing to put on their robes and rushing to the Great Hall.

Fred found himself standing in the Room of Requirement on the night of his eighteenth birthday, holding out his wand and calling out one of the hardest spells to master known to wizardkind. It wasn't that he didn't believe in himself enough to cast a Patronus, it just…wasn't working at that moment. Unfortunately for him, George was able to conjure small gusts of translucent blue magic out of his wand by calling Expecto Patronum, and while it wasn't enough to form a corporeal Patronus, it was enough for him and Lee to begin ribbing Fred with.

"C'mon mate, you've got to do better on your birthday!" Lee said from his stance a few metres away. "Just think about how early I had to be up to enchant all those candles!"

"Yeah, and you've been an ugly grouch all day," Fred retorted, feeling the mildest of frustrations that he wasn't matching George's skill. "I don't think missing three hours of your beauty sleep was necessarily for the best."

"Maybe I was making sure the birds would have their eyes on you two for a change, did you think about that?" Lee quipped before he chanted the Patronus charm again. A single puff of blue crept out from his wand, but by the state of Lee's grin, anyone would've thought a corporal Patronus was flying through the air.

The truth was, while Fred was as happy as he usually was, there was a persistent undercurrent of stress running through him. There had been since Christmas, truth be told. He was still being kept up at night thinking about whether he was doing the right thing by Granger and not telling her about the letter. That train of thought inevitably left him chugging down the tracks of any and all possible reactions a fifteen-year-old girl might have when finding out they had a magical Link to someone. It was a justifiable enough excuse for not producing a Patronus in his head, but unfortunately not able to explain to anyone except George.

He continued to practice his casting of the spell, recalling the joys of having their rental application for the shop accepted, their excitement for finding an antidote to the Puking Pastille that worked 100% of the time, and the prospect of being able to move out of the Burrow and beginning to live their own lives. Harry, Ron, and Hermione wandered around the room offering support and guidance to those who were struggling, and Fred found it amusing how Ron never seemed to make his way to the twins' corner of the room. Harry nodded darkly when Fred gave the barest excuse of "stressed", and he was glad that Harry's Quidditch-focused mind was able to connect its own dots. "Make sure you take breaks, even if it seems like it's not working. You don't want to overdo yourself."

"I'm surprised Potter can still cast a Patronus with the way this year is going," Lee stated as Harry wandered over to the next group. "Poor bloke's being attacked by Umbridge every chance she gets.

George snorted. "With the life that kid's had? I'm surprised he could cast one in the first place."

"Especially one powerful enough to do its job against a proper Dementor," Fred noted as he watched Harry assist Seamus in his first D.A meeting.

"Especially with Ickle Ronnikins as a best mate."

Fred looked at George with slightly furrowed brows. "You do realise that between him and our sister, they've probably spent most of their allowance from the past three months on our birthday gift today?"

"Who am I to resist the low hanging fruit?" George said with a smirk.

An unanticipated flash of joy felt like it was about to burst out of Fred's chest. Without a moment of hesitation in his voice, he called out "Expecto Patronum" in a fierce voice.

He nearly had to hold his wand in two hands to gain control of the magic coming out of it. Corporal wasn't the word he'd use for the Patronus, but there was definitely something coming out of the wand. George and Lee had dropped their wand hands down by that point and were gaping at Fred's apparent instant ability. Fred barely noticed, however, as he was watching the spell shoot only a metre from his wand before making a sudden ninety-degree turn to the right and heading - no, flying- towards the group of students there. Without warning, the trail of magic stopped erupting from Fred's wand and he dropped his hand instantly, enthralled by the magic that remained.

Fred, like every other student who could see the Patronus, was fixated on its erratic movement. Fred had never cast a Patronus before and had no idea how to control the damn thing, and considering his wand wasn't actually doing anything at the moment, staring was the only thing he could do. If he didn't know any better, he would've said it was heading towards something, but he hadn't directed it to, so why…

Oh, that's why.

Of course. He should have known.

Granger.

Hermione's face had broken out into a pleased smile as she watched her fully corporal Patronus dart and weave around her. He couldn't exactly tell what it was from his position across the room, but it was a small creature, definitely not as big as Harry's stag he'd demonstrated at the start of the class. Whatever it was, it sensed Fred's incorporeal mess heading towards it, but instead of darting away, it began to bound towards it. Fred barely looked away enough from the spectacle to gauge Hermione's reaction, but all he could see on her face was intense curiosity.

The two Patronuses followed each other in circles, with Fred's staying high enough to remain out of reach of Hermione's…otter, was it? Huh. The two continued to spiral up towards the roof, almost playfully, until Hermione's otter caught Fred's spell. The otter continued to dive around it in tight circles until it plunged through the cloudlike substance. Gasps were heard from many of the girls in the room (including Hermione, Fred couldn't help but notice), but the otter, now brighter than ever, continued to circle towards the top of the room.

Excited whispers sprang up throughout the room as the otter dived back down towards its owner as it weaved and bobbed through her legs and around her arms. Even more chatter descended upon the room as the otter headed towards Fred, mimicking its previous movements with Hermione just a moment ago.

Fred tried to take it in stride, he really did. Unfortunately, anxious thoughts about Hermione made themselves at home within his head as the otter began to swim lazy circles around Fred's chest. Luckily for him, the Patronus decided to head back to its rightful owner after a few laps around his body, but the dark thoughts (now including Ron, who was gawking at Fred like he'd grown an extra nose on his forehead).

Fred barely registered hearing the door open and shut quietly to his left. Instead, he watched as the otter rubbed up against Hermione, still shining as bright as it did when it collided with Fred's swirl of blue and white. Hermione muttered something to it before it circled her one last time and popped silently out of existence. Hermione smiled, pleased with her work, before turning to Ron and engaging him in conversation.

George nudged Fred in the ribs, pulling him away from his hope of having an Extendable Ear in his pocket to hear their conversation. "Isn't that Dobby? The strange house-elf from the kitchens?"

Fred followed George's line of sight to where Harry was standing. Sure enough, the house-elf covered in Hermione's knitted hats and socks was pulling on Harry's robes with urgency. "Hi, Dobby! What are you - what's wrong?"

"Harry Potter, sir…Harry Potter, sir… Dobby has come to warn you…but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…"

Fred's eyes darted between Lee and George. Lee was staring at the quirky elf but didn't have to strain to listen to the conversation. The entire D.A. was silent as they listened in. George looked towards Fred gravely, then recentered on Dobby as he ran into a wall, avoiding Harry's clutches. A pang of sympathy made him breathe in deep, but the subtle noise was lost in the gasps and small shrieks of girls unfamiliar with a house-elves form of self-punishment.

Thankfully, Dobby seemed unharmed due to his hats, and Fred wanted to throw a small smile Hermione's way but managed to keep it in.

"Who's "she", Dobby?" Harry asked, interrupting his thoughts on Hermione. Harry's face turned into a look of alarmed terror. "Umbridge?"

Dobby only nodded once before trying to inflict his self-punishment on Harry's knees.

"What about her? Dobby-she hasn't found out about this-about us-about the D.A?" Harry asked, panic rising with each word.

Noting that Harry's eyes were as wide as saucers behind his glasses, Fred was paralysed with dread as fear filled the room.

"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"

George found Fred's eyes this time, but Fred was still too busy watching Dobby try to harm himself to move. Hermione might have a point with her S.P.E.W business if this was how they reacted.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"

Lee, George, and Fred, all the closest to the door out of the group, managed to make it before the students caused a bottleneck at the only exit. George held the door open for Lee, who bolted down the corridor towards Gryffindor tower as if he was riding an invisible broom. George motioned for Fred to go but he refused. "We've got to make sure the young ones get out first."

George nodded swiftly as he held the door open against the strain of students trying to run to freedom. Fred, on the opposite side of George inside the doorway, helped Dennis Creevey back onto his feet after getting caught in the stampede and pushed him closer towards the exit. He was also able to help Neville get Luna off the floor quickly and get them out the door, leaving only Harry, Hermione, Ron, and George.

Without a word, Hermione and Ron ran out the door still held open by George. Harry quickly turned to make sure no student was left behind in their former safe space, then ran out the door as well. "Go anywhere, but don't get caught!" Harry shouted as the door to the room slammed closed behind them as the three of them dashed along the corridor.

"That's what we do best!" George called out, him and Fred already being several paces in front of the much shorter Harry.

The twins turned the corner at breakneck speed, and fortunately for them didn't crash into the suit of armour just at the corner of the hallway. They continued running down the long passageway, deciding together without speaking that the quicker they got to the Common Room, the better. Fred quickly checked behind him - both for danger and for Harry - but couldn't spot anyone.

They made it to the end of the corridor and ran down the flight of stairs as quickly as humanly possible without breaking their necks, dashing into the next corridor to get out of the open. Unfortunately, a Fourth Year Slytherin (that had given Ginny trouble at the start of her very first year) was standing in the middle of the passageway.

Thinking quickly, Fred reached into his back pocket without breaking stride. "I'm gonna throw it at him, George!"

"Do it! Now!" George said as he shielded his eyes. Fred lifted his fist into the air and took aim at the Fourth Year, who let out a most unmanly shriek of horror and darted into an alcove a few steps away. The twins continued to run past, ignoring the quivering boy.

Although his lungs felt like they were going to start a fire at any given moment, he couldn't help but laugh as he rounded the next corner, the one that would finally lead them to the Fat Lady's portrait. Fortunately for them, there were no more pesky Slytherin's waiting for runaway Gryffindors, so they managed to slip through the portrait after panting "Gibblerish" and sending a breathless wink to the Fat Lady.

Ron was standing next to the couches near the fireplace, staring at the door while gasping for breath with his hands on his knees. Hermione and Ginny didn't look too much better, both collapsed onto the same couch and red in the face as they tried to regain control of their lungs. George, quickly noting all the comfortable seating was taken, slid down the nearest wall and sat with his head bent and legs sticking out in a V shape.

"Every…one…back?" Fred painfully asked, noting that the pain was increasing now that he'd stopped running. The castle was simply too large to go sprinting through when being chased by Death Eater wannabes.

"Harry…" Ron managed to squeeze out between gasps for air. "and Neville."

"Nev was with…Luna…" Ginny added, not bothering to turn from her place on the couch to face her brothers. "Making sure she got back safely."

Hermione had the common decency to pop her head out from behind the couch before addressing the twins. "Weren't you with Harry?"

"Nah…got separated…early on -"

"- boy's got tiny legs -"

"absolute…stick -" Fred said before collapsing next to his brother on the floor. Riding a broom and distance running worked very different muscles, believe it or not.

"If he's not back in ten minutes I'm going to look for him," Ron stated bravely, regaining enough breath to finally stand up without support.

Fred saw the top of Ginny's head shake against the back of the couch. "Don't… be an idiot. We need…players on the Quidditch team."

"That's my girl!" Fred called out in agreement at the same time Hermione glared at Ginny.

"Quidditch or not -" Hermione stated, glaring at Fred before looking back to Ron and Ginny, "I'm not letting you wander around the castle looking for him. If he's caught, then…we deal with it."

Fred's heart felt like it went for a small dive at Hermione's pause. Harry couldn't get caught, not with Umbridge. Wasn't the kid's life messed up enough already?"

"Well if you're not going to let me go," Ron said, dropping into an armchair vacated by a second year, "I'm going to wait for him down here."

Hermione nodded sharply in agreement and rearranged herself on the couch. Ginny shuffled over, tucking her knees under her and staring at the fire.

The clock tip-toed its way from nine o'clock to ten o'clock, and Fred half-believed it must've been hit with a weak stunning spell at the way it was moving so slowly. Lee had come down to check on the twins, who had moved to the other double sofa surrounding the fireplace and had decided to go upstairs and get a kip in with the promise that Fred and George would wake him to tell him the news.

Ginny had started to drift off against the back of the couch by 10:15, and Fred couldn't blame her. Trying to cast a Patronus was hard enough for an adult, but for a Fourth Year? He would've taken on a bet to say it was impossible if he didn't know of Harry's little adventures back in his third year. George had gone upstairs into their dormitory for a moment, returning with both his and Fred's worn hand-knit blankets their mum had made them years ago. Carefully draping his own over Ginny to prevent waking her up, he then offered Fred's to Hermione. With a weak smile she accepted the offer and draped it across her crossed legs as she sat on the couch, continuing to turn and look at the Portrait Hole any time there was a noise.

It was the one time Hermione didn't turn her head to a nose that the Portrait Hole admitted Harry in, ironically enough.

"Harry!" Ron all but bellowed as he ran towards his best mate. Fred, George, and Hermione all stood and turned to face him, with Hermione darting over and throwing her arms around him before checking him over for signs of injury. Ginny woke up and threw George's blanket off of her to join the twins standing to the side of the couches.

"Oh, Harry, where have you been? We've been worried sick!" Hermione fretted as Harry walked towards the couch, obviously exhausted.

He collapsed into the maroon armchair vacated by Ron, taking a deep breath before staring into the fire. "Dumbledore's gone."

"Gone?" scoffed Ron, sitting next to Harry in Hermione's old spot. Ginny returned to her seat and wrapped herself back up in the discarded blanket, all traces of tiredness gone from her eyes. Fred and George returned to their couch, while Hermione sat next to Ron on the floor, and if Fred were to move his leg just slightly to the left, he would've grazed her back with his knee. Not that he had a reason to do that, no Sir.

"Gone," Harry repeated in the same monotone voice. "Told me to listen to Sna- him, and to keep up with what I've been trying to do all year."

Obviously Potter had something going on that he and George weren't privy to, but that didn't explain where or why Dumbledore had gone.

"But where has Dumbledore gone?" asked Ginny. There we go, thought Fred.

"And maybe start from the beginning?" Hermione suggested quietly from her place on the floor. She'd covered herself with Fred's blanket again, and he felt (for no good reason) incredibly pleased with himself.

Harry heaved a great sigh, as if in disbelief that the day could get any longer. "Malfoy caught me a few seconds after Fred and George rounded the corner when we left the Room -"

"He did?" George asked in surprise. "We didn't see him."

Harry snorted, but there was no humour to be found on his features. "He probably Disillusioned himself knowing he couldn't take on both of you at once," Fred smirked at that, but Harry continued.

"He Jinxed me and I tripped, and then Umbridge was dragging me to Dumbledore's office. Fudge was there, too, and Kingsley. McGonagall looked furious, oh..." Harry paused awkwardly, looking at each of the Weasleys briefly. "Percy was there too."

"Fucking git," Fred muttered under his breath with Ron and George nodding their agreement.

Harry then explained how Fudge had tried to weasel information about the night's meeting out of him, along with Harry's own stubborn refusal to give any solid evidence. When he'd reached the part about Marietta Edgecombe being led in by The Umbitch and revealing sickly-looking purple pustules all over her face, Fred's whoop of triumph and excitement that mingled in with his siblings' own celebrations was promptly cut off by feeling Hermione go rigid against his leg. George, who was the only one who'd noticed Fred's abrupt end to the celebration, glanced in the direction he was looking at and smirked with glee.

"Oh, Miss Granger! What did you do?!"

Tendrils of guilt began to curl around Fred's upper chest as Hermione lent forward and dropped her head into her hands, cutting off contact between their two bodies. He didn't feel a shred of guilt for the Edgecombe girl being so blatantly declared a sneak, but…

Well, he didn't exactly know what he felt guilty about. A realisation began to slowly dawn on him -

"I didn't…it, it - the parchment did it!" Hermione exclaimed as she dug her head even further into her hands.

Ron looked confused. "What parchment?"

Harry clarified to Ron, "The Defense Association list. Parkinson ran in and grabbed it after we'd left, Umbridge had it."

"Hermione Granger, you cheeky bint," Ginny said as she looked to her friend with awe written all over her expression. "That parchment we signed in the pub, you didn't tell us it was enchanted!"

"I didn't want everyone to know!" Hermione wailed into her hands, her voice muffled by the angle she was pointing her head at. "I didn't actually think that someone would betray our group!"

"Nevermind that," Ron said, absently patting Hermione on the back. "So, Fudge kicked Dumbledore out?".

Harry eventually got through the rest of the night's tale, including how Edgecombe was placed under a Memory charm by Kingsley and then Dumbledore's subsequent "confession". The poor bloke barely made it through to the end of the story before emotional exhaustion took over his features. Fred felt a pang of sympathy for the kid.

They all sat around the dying fire in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. There was no noise between the group, only the distant crackling of the fire and muffled footsteps on the girl's dormitory staircase, yet no one emerged. Dumbledore was gone, no doubt to be replaced by Umbridge. Percy the Useless Twat was still incapacitated by the stiff broom-handle shoved up his arse many months ago, and there was little hope that the D.A would be able to hold another meeting.

It was almost enough to make a man abandon his tenacious hold on his schooling altogether.

Ron was the first to break the silence. "So, Hermione. The parchment. How in Merlin's buggered wand did you manage to do that?"

"Technically, it wasn't the parchment, not really," Hermione said slowly, tensing as she continued to look into the fire as the Weasley children (and adoptee Harry) looked towards her for answers. "It was the quill. I Charmed it to reveal if anyone had dobbed us in but…"

"In for a Knut, in for a Galleon, hey Granger?" George laughed as Hermione's head fell back into her hands in shame. While the Weasley brood laughed and Harry let a narrow smirk slip, Fred instead elbowed George none too kindly in the ribs, effectively cutting off his laughter. George winced and looked to his twin in confusion, but Fred nodded in Hermione's obviously distressed direction. After a quick glance at the rest of the group, Fred noted that only Ginny had seen the off-exchange and quickly reverted his gaze to the fireplace rather than on Hermione's hunched shoulders.

"Oh, chin up, Hermione - she knew what she was getting into," Ron said as he looked down towards his best friend.

Hermione shook her head slowly, as if not moving or looking up meant that the situation couldn't get any worse. "I didn't exactly spell out what would happen if anyone revealed the D.A though, did I?"

Ginny snorted. "Marietta is a big girl, Hermione. She went to the Hog's Head knowing it was about a secret defence group - of course there'd be repercussions for not keeping it secret. A slap on the wrist won't do it."

"Plus," George added, and Fred wanted to slap a hand over his mouth before he made the problem worse, "No one in their right mind will second guess you again now, will they?"

A small whimper escaped from the girl on the floor and Fred found it oddly charming that she cared so much about a girl she barely knew. "That wasn't the intention behind it, though!'

"So?" Harry said, a glint of passion reflected in his eyes. "She deserved it for all the hell she's put us through! She made Dumbledore leave Hogwarts, Hermione. What if one of the younger kids got hauled up into Dumbledore's office? We've been outed in a second!"

"Still no excuse for being an absolute twat of a -"

"Ron, enough," Fred started, allowing his control of the conversation to lessen the claws of guilt currently digging into his lungs. "Hermione, Ginny is right. Edgecombe decided to come to the Hogs Head that day. She decided to listen to you and Harry, she decided to sign the parchment -"

Hermione had turned her body slightly so she could interrupt. "She only came because of Cho!"

"Okay, she came because of Cho to the Hogs Head. She probably only signed it because of Cho. But do you really believe that she came to every single meeting you organised for Cho, or because she wanted to learn to defend herself? She's a Ravenclaw, so I'm sure if Harry lesson's were such a waste of her time she wouldn't have come; hell, she probably wouldn't have kept her D.A Galleon on her to find out when they were!" Hermione looked less like she was about to cry and more like she wanted an argument to get her point across, but he persevered.

"There's no way a Ravenclaw would let themselves be dragged around for nearly half a school year without getting something out of it themselves, so she obviously wanted to be there. Yes, she was probably persuaded by outside forces - to an extent - "Fred added hastily as Hermione opened her mouth to retaliate, "but there are probably quite a few D.A members that could've dobbed us in to get in Umbridge's good books or save their family's reputation. But she was the only one in six months who admitted to anything, so it's fair to say she deserved what she got."

Hermione took her time to mull over his words. It didn't stop her from training her narrowed eyes onto his, though. Nor did it make her move her arm away from where it was now brushing against his leg in multiple places. Fred found himself unable to look away from the dark hazelnut coloured eyes watching his every move. The temptation to look at his siblings for guidance was damn near tangible, but he fought the urge.

The grip of guilt that had claimed his lungs started to ease in sync with Hermione's deep breath in. His realisation from before started to come back to him as he watched her eyes slowly return to their naturally wide shape, but his thoughts were interrupted again.

"When you phrase it like that…I guess it doesn't seem as bad," Hermione said quietly, twisting herself back into her previous position and again staring into the fire.

"How long will the pustules last?" George asked.

Hermione again turned around, looking at Fred for a split second before scrunching her face slightly, considering the question. "A few days, maybe? A week? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have an antidote anyway, so…"

"Well I damn well hope they scar her permanently," Ginny said with a huff.

"They won't!" Hermione exclaimed loudly, and to Fred the noise sounded oddly piercing in the quiet of Common Room. As all eyes returned to her again, she repeated herself much quieter. "They won't, I made sure of it. As Harry said, if Colin or Dennis was blackmailed or tricked into revealing the D.A, it would be terrible for them to have a lifelong reminder of a mistake they made at thirteen or fourteen years old."

"You're starting to sound like Fred, Granger," George said with a wink. While it was true that Fred would often have the more outlandish or crazier ideas for jokes or tricks, George could rarely throw a question about safety at him that he couldn't answer within thirty seconds. A good prankster always had limits to the effect their antics would have on the "victim's" body, soul, magic, and mind. If he or George couldn't come up with a justification for something they wanted to create, they wouldn't create it - simple as that.

Unfortunately, Hermione seemed to take George's astute observation as a personal insult. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," George replied somewhat warily of the upset witch in front of him, "that we need to think about the lasting effects of our products, too. Can you imagine the strife we'd be in if a kid permanently hurt themselves with something they'd ordered from us?"

"Shop closed before it even opens -"

"- Howlers flying in on the hour every hour -"

" - every parent this side of the country trying to wring our necks!" Fred finished with a dramatic flourish. Hermione's eyes darted between the twins during the interaction, but whatever she was looking for mustn't have appeared. A deep sigh erupted from her petite frame and her shoulders slumped yet (to Fred, at least) she didn't seem quite as guilty about her actions as before. Good.

He flashed her a genuine smile from his seat on the sofa, and his heart damn near stopped beating in his chest when she sent a tentative raise of her own lips back near immediately. The once roaring fire was halfway through its descent into embers, and the softly flickering flames made her irises shine with an array of browns and flecks of honey golds. A feeling of peace eased its way through his bloodstream as Hermione turned back to face the fire, replacing that pesky feeling of guilt that never felt like it was his to begin with. The urge to reach out and play with the loose strands of hair emerging from her two thick braids was startlingly strong, but he admonished the thought before his hands could react. George would have a fucking field day if he could hear these stupid thoughts.

"What, so that's it?" asked Ron incredulously, looking between Fred and Hermione in shock.

Fred was genuinely confused. "What's it?"

Ron flung his arm out and gestured between the two of them with his large hand, like a Quidditch player indicating a foul to a referee.

"No argument, no yelling? How come he gets off scot-free?!"

Fred vaguely heard Ginny mutter something about "Ronald" and "idiotic git", but was too focused on Hermione's reaction to his youngest brother. She'd whipped around so fast that her braids smacked her cheek lightly, but the anger rolling off of her probably stopped her from feeling any stinging pain from it.

"Scot-free?" Hermione asked, dangerously close to yelling at her best friend and waking up the sleeping Gryffindors in their dormitories. "What do you mean, scot-free?"

"If I'd said any of that shite you'd be jumping down my neck!" Ron shouted back, clearly having listened to everything Fred had said to Hermione and developing a chip on his shoulder because of it. "But he didn't get an earful from you, did he? What's that all about?"

"He had some good points, whereas you often blubber out the first thing that comes to your head without thinking!" Hermione cried out, sleepers apparently be damned.

Ron's face finally matched the brilliant shade of red the tips of his ears had turned. If Fred didn't know any better, he'd say that Ron had been out playing Quidditch all day in Australia without a Sun Protecting charm. Recognising that he'd never be able to win the argument with Hermione, Ron directed his anger to Fred. "How come you're being so nice to her recently?"

"Because she's best mates with my two youngest siblings?" Fred answered without hesitation. Thank Merlin that he'd been kept awake by the blasted Letter of Notice to have that answer prepared for the inevitable questioning arrived.

"And we've always been polite to Granger," George stated simply. "Sure, she does mess with our pranks and mischief a bit, but she's a Prefect. You, on the other hand, are her best friend and you've started yelling at her -"

"- for no reason at all -" Fred interjected.

" - and you claim to be one of her best mates." George shrugged his shoulders and looked at Ron glumly, as if he doubted the fact that Hermione and Ron were friends.

"You three aren't even friends!"

Hermione stood then, and Fred's blanket fell from her lap in a heap as her hands clenched into fists. "You have absolutely no right to decide who I am or am not friends with, Ronald Weasley. I don't know what's gotten into you at the moment, but I for one am glad that these two could listen to my problems and help me feel a bit better about them."

Ginny reached out to tug Ron back down to the couch, but he shrugged her feeble grasp off of him as he too stood. "I bet they're just trying to get something out of you, Hermione. Maybe they want to test on first years again? Or maybe they just want to use the enchantment on the quill to make another product?"

Hermione stared at Ron, and although Fred couldn't see her face, he could tell by watching the movements of her body that she was close to tears. Her hands unclenched from her side as her shoulders fell, and her voice sounded far from her own as she stood. "I give up for today. Harry, thank you for the productive lesson tonight. Ginny, thanks for tripping up that Slytherin in the hallway for me. Fred, George, thank you for making sure the younger students got out safely. Goodnight."

Her eyes didn't meet his as she handed Fred back his blanket before heading up the stairs to her dormitory. He stared at the handcrafted item for a moment, desperately (and unsuccessfully) attempting to work out if she knew it was his or simply handed it back to the wrong twin in her haste to escape his stupid youngest brother. He glared angrily at Ron for ruining a perfectly good moment between them, secrecy be damned for the moment. Fred stood from the couch as Ron glared back, clearly still unimpressed by their recent developing friendship.

"I didn't know you liked the taste of your own toes, Ronald." George leered as he stood at the same time as Fred.

"Fucking…what?!" Ron spluttered.

"Well, from how far you've shoved your own foot in your mouth in a matter of seconds, it's gotta be for the taste, right? No other bloody reason for you to say something so utterly stupid when she was starting to feel better!"

Ron attempted to stammer out a reply to his brother's quick wit, but whether or not something understandable came out Fred would never know, as he was already halfway up the stairs to his dormitory.

As he lay in bed that night he could feel a strange mixture of embarrassment, light-heartedness, anger, and…well, satisfaction? It was an odd, swirling mess of emotions that he couldn't necessarily link back to the nights' events. Well, not his own version of events.

The door slamming behind George as he joined his twin in the dormitory made Fred jump out of his thoughts, effectively spooking away the realisation that had been nagging him at the back of his mind throughout the night. He threw back the covers of his bed to give George some privacy while getting changed into his pyjamas and reminisced on the day it had been. Presents galore, boring classes, a show of hundreds of coloured candle flames and party hats that only stopped singing Happy Birthday when worn from Lee over breakfast, disastrous D.A meeting, and Hermione looking near irresistible in the light of the dying fire.

Overall? Not actually his worst birthday.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I'm also half-looking for a beta if anyone is interested?


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